Baleen

Whales, dolphins and porpoises are divided into two groups: toothed and baleen.

Baleen whales, such as gray and humpback whales, have hundreds of comb-like plates with stiff bristles growing from the upper jaw to strain small food from huge mouthfuls of water.

These marine mammals, once hunted for their blubber and baleen, now support a thriving whale-watching industry.

“You have probably never seen anything like this before, Mr. Toler. It is baleen, or if you prefer it, whalebone, taken from the mouth of the bowhead whale. It is used by the whale to filter its food.”

Scammon estimates the number of baleens killed in the years 1835-72 at 131,000; once again, his figure needs to be adjusted.

The Balene is a fishe great and huge, much like to the Whale, and is so called, because of his outcasting and shedding of water, for they throwe water higher then other great fishes of the sea.