BALEEN WHALE

also called Toothless Whale, any of several whales of the suborder Mysticeti (order Cetacea), distinguished from other groups by a specialized feeding structure, the baleen, or whalebone. Whalebone was once widely used for stays in women's corsets and is still used in some industrial brushes. The baleen, which is used to strain plankton and small crustaceans from the water, consists of two horny plates attached to the roof of the mouth. Each plate is composed of a series of parallel slats with fringes that mat together to form a sieve. There are about 300 slats in each triangular-shaped plate, which may be as long as 3.6 m (12 feet) in the right whale. For more information on baleen whale species and groups, see blue whale; fin whale; gray whale; humpback whale; right whale; rorqual; sei whale.