When a blue whale is lunge-feeding, it will often roll over onto
its back revealing its throat grooves. With the whale on its back,
the weight of the water pushes down on the baleen plates in
the whale’s mouth. The result is that the water streams out of
the animal’s mouth, leaving the krill trapped on the inside of
the fibrous baleen where the animal can lick it off with its tongue.

photo by Michelle Gilders

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