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 baleen. These baleen bristles are arranged in plates across the upper jaw of the whale. As a material for various human uses, baleen is usually called whalebone. It is not to be confused (but often is) with whale bone or whale's bone meaning the actual bones of whales, used in carving, for cutlery handles and other uses for the bones of various large species. Like other bone materials, this often functioned as a substitute for ivory. Depending on the species, a baleen plate can be long, and weigh up to . Its hairy fringes are called baleen hair or whalebone-hair.