Bubble net feeding feed in a short amount of time. Humpback whales have a vertical throat roughly the size of a grapefruit. They cannot physically swallow anything larger than that. They are carnivores and primarily feed on small fish such as krill, juvenile salmon, and herring. They are also baleen whales, which means that they do not have teeth, so they must be able to eat things that they can swallow whole. They have several vertical grooves running down the length of their body so that they can hold large volumes of water and fish at one time. They feed for up to
Baleen whale four extant families: Balaenidae (right whales), Balaenopteridae (rorquals), Cetotheriidae (pygmy right whale), and Eschrichtiidae (gray whale). Balaenids are distinguished by their enlarged head and thick blubber, while rorquals and gray whales generally have a flat head, long throat pleats, and are more streamlined than Balaenids. Rorquals also tend to be longer than the latter. Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) and artiodactyls are now classified under the order Cetartiodactyla, often still referred to as Artiodactyla (given that the cetaceans are deeply nested with the artiodactyls). The closest living relatives to baleen whales are toothed whales both from the infraorder Cetacea. Balaenidae