baleen whale

[buh-leen hweyl, weyl]

noun

1. any whale of the suborder Mysticeti, having plates of baleen on the sides of the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water.

baleen whale

noun

1. another name for whalebone whale

baleen whale

1. Any of several usually large whales of the suborder Mysticeti, having a symmetrical skull with two blowholes and plates of baleen instead of teeth. Baleen whales include the humpback, blue, fin, minke, and right whales, and the rorquals.

2. Compare toothed whale

Word History and Origins

Origin of baleen whale¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Filter feeders are everywhere in the animal world, from tiny crustaceans and certain types of coral and krill, to various molluscs, barnacles, and even massive basking sharks and baleen whales.

From Science Daily

North Pacific right whales are baleen whales, which feed by straining huge volumes of ocean water through their comb-like baleen plates that trap copepods and other zooplankton.

From Seattle Times

While previous studies have linked caller identity to acoustic tag data, this is the first robust method for studying large baleen whales, like humpback whales.

From Science Daily

Whales are best known for their massive size and the biggest among them are the baleen whales.

From Salon

To communicate across vast distances and find each other, baleen whales depend critically on the production of sounds that travels far in murky and dark oceans.

From Science Daily