baleen whale

American  

[buh-leen hweyl, weyl] / bəˈlin ˈʰweɪl, ˈweɪl /

noun

1. any whale of the suborder Mysticeti, having plates of baleen on the sides of the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water.

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baleen whale British  

noun

1. another name for whalebone whale

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baleen whale Scientific  

1. Any of several usually large whales of the suborder Mysticeti, having a symmetrical skull with two blowholes and plates of baleen instead of teeth. Baleen whales include the humpback, blue, fin, minke, and right whales, and the rorquals.

2. Compare toothed whale

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Etymology

Origin of baleen whale

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Minke whales, considered the smallest of the great, or baleen, whale family, can grow to more than 26 feet long and weigh as much as 14,000 pounds, according to NOAA.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2025

Another study this month from the journal Movement Ecology used sophisticated computer models to determine how shipping noise and other human activity impacts baleen whale migration.

From Salon • Feb. 23, 2024

The researchers produced computer models of the sounds and showed that baleen whale song is restricted to a narrow frequency which overlaps with noise produced by shipping vessels.

From BBC • Feb. 21, 2024

"It turns out we didn't really know what a healthy baleen whale population looks like when it isn't heavily depleted by human impacts," he said.

From Science Daily • Oct. 12, 2023

It is, as much as the sounds of any baleen whale, a love song cast upon the vastness of the deep.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan