Alica Goldston Taylor

perefect humpback lunge
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An incredible photo of a Humpback whale lunge feeding up through a ball of herring. As the photo shows these whales have throat groves that run from chin to navel. The grooves allow the throat to expand and take in large volumes of water and food into the mouth. As the mouth closes the whale presses down with its tongue forcing all water out through baleen plates. The photo shows that the baleen plates hang in row from each side of the upper jaw. Baleen is made of a similar protein to the human fingernail; they are very strong and flexible.