LIFE AT AND NEAR SURFACE 145 



largest of all living animals feed entirely upon 

 the smallest and most insignificant forms of 

 marine life. Indeed, so small are the animals 

 upon which the arctic whales feed that it 

 would be impossible for a whale to capture 

 enough of these tiny creatures to keep him 

 alive if he had ordinary teeth. To enable 

 them to subsist upon the tiny atoms of life in 

 the ocean, nature has provided the Right 

 Whales with specially-developed mouth or- 

 gans and growths which are entirely different 

 from those possessed by any other creature. 

 This remarkable structure is called "whale- 

 bone" or "baleen," and is a horny growth like 

 the close-set teeth of a gigantic comb. When 

 the whale is hungry he swims with open mouth 

 through the sea and then, closing his jaws, ex- 

 pels the water between the strips of whale- 

 bone. The water passes out, but the baleen, 

 acting like a huge sieve or strainer, prevents 

 the tiny animals in the water from escaping 

 and the whale gulps these down greedily. In 

 this remarkable manner the various species of 

 Right Whales or Baleen Whales gather their 

 supply of food and you can therefore see how 



