Digestive system of humpback whales Digestive system of humpback whales The digestive system of humpback whales ("Megaptera novaeangliae") is adapted to digest tiny crustaceans such as krill, plankton, and small fish (including herring and mackerel) which the whale filters from the ocean using its baleen, a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw. Humpback whales belong to the parvorder baleen whales, which are carnivorous, seasonal feeders. The baleen, a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw made of keratin, is used to filter plankton, among other food sources, from the water. Ventral grooves are expandable concave furrows that line a whale's throat and have the peculiarity of
Toothed whale whales do not have wax ester deposits nor branched fatty chain acids in their blubber. Thus, more recent evolution of these complex blubber traits occurred after baleen whales and toothed whales split, and only in the toothed whale lineage. Toothed whales have torpedo-shaped bodies with inflexible necks, limbs modified into flippers, nonexistent external ear flaps, a large tail fin, and bulbous heads (with the exception of sperm whales). Their skulls have small eye orbits, long beaks (with the exception sperm whales), and eyes placed on the sides of their heads. Toothed whales range in size from the and vaquita to