Why do whales like to eat small fish and shrimp?

There are many species of whales, and taxonomists divide them into two main groups according to their characteristics: one is a large body, without teeth in the mouth, and only has whiskers like combs to replace teeth, so they are called baleen cetaceans. The other group has teeth in their mouths, so they are called toothed cetaceans.

The largest whale in the world is the blue whale, also known as the razor whale, which is 33 meters long and weighs more than 150 tons, which is equivalent to dozens of elephants. Newborn calves are 6 to 7 meters long and weigh about 2 tons. In addition to the many patches of baleen in the mouth, baleen whales have many folds on their stomachs, which can be large or small like the bellows of an accordion.

In this way, it is convenient to eat food in the water, you can hold your stomach up, swallow the sea water in your mouth, then close your mouth, and then press the water through the gap between the whiskers to swallow only the food. But because it has no teeth, it can't chew large pieces of meat, so it can only survive by swallowing small fish and shrimp. Although the body of small fish and shrimp is small, it is abundant in the ocean.

Baleen whales have enough food and don't need to chew, so this type of whale has become a whale that specializes in eating small fish and shrimp. Just like when we eat rice, although each grain of rice is small, we will be full if we eat too much, and the same is true for baleen whales to eat small shrimp. There is a relationship between body size and food consumption, large animals eat more, small animals eat less, but it has no relationship with the size of the food itself because there are the most small fish and shrimp in the ocean.

The appetite of whales is very large, and the small fish and shrimp in the ocean are everywhere, and it is effortless to catch, which can save physical strength and be nutritious and rich, so small fish and shrimp have become a delicacy for whales. However, there are also some whales, such as killer whales, that feed on large fish. In addition to the many pieces of baleen in the mouth, the beard whale has many folds on its belly, which can be large or small like the bellows of an accordion.

In this way, it is easy to eat in the water and collect the food, you can hold your stomach up, swallow the sea water in your mouth, then close your mouth, and then press the water through the gap between the whiskers to swallow only the food. But because it has no teeth, it can't chew large pieces of meat, so it can only survive by swallowing small fish and shrimp. Although the body of small fish and shrimp is small, it is abundant in the ocean.

Baleen whales have enough food and don't need to chew, so this type of whale has become a whale that specializes in eating small fish and shrimp. Just like when we eat rice, although each grain of rice is small, we will be full if we eat too much, and the same is true for baleen whales to eat small shrimp. There is a relationship between body size and food consumption, large animals eat more, small animals eat less, but it has no relationship with the size of the food itself.

Whales eat shrimp and small fish, whales are a traditional taxa under the class Mammals, including about 90 species of fish-like, **exposed aquatic mammals and their extinct early relatives, collectively referred to as cetaceans or cetaceans, customarily large whales are called whales, and small senkai are called dolphins. Most inhabit shallow seas, and a few inhabit freshwater.

The body structure and living habits of cetaceans are obviously different from those of any mammal, so they have been listed as a single order for a long time. Its ancestry and evolutionary history were once controversial, but with the continuous progress of related research, it has been fully confirmed that cetaceans evolved from terrestrial artiodactyls after entering the water 50 million years ago. DNA sequencing showed that cetaceans and hippos were sister groups, and their clades were sister groups to ruminants.

In order to avoid artiodactyls becoming a paraphyletic group (i.e., missing part of the evolutionary clades), the current classification classifies cetaceans as artiodactyls and downgrades them to subcetaceans.

Whales are actually the largest mammals in the world, not fish, and only baleen cetaceans eat small fish and shrimp, and toothed cetaceans eat sea beasts in addition to fish. Many people do have a misconception that whales are the largest fish in the world, when in fact whales are the largest mammals! And in the species of whales, baleen cetaceans and toothed cetaceans are also distinguished by whether they have teeth, only baleen cetaceans will feed on small fish and shrimp, and toothed cetaceans are more ** carnivorous whales.

1. Baleen cetaceans are relatively large and often live in the deep sea, and sufficient food makes their teeth deteriorate, so they feed on small fish and shrimp

Every time you see baleen cetaceans, divers will have a great sense of shock, but it is amazing to see baleen cetaceans eating small fish and shrimp, after all, this huge body does not eat big fish! The reason why baleen cetaceans eat small fish and shrimp is because they are large and have enough food in the deep sea, they do not need to use their teeth and directly degenerate; Without teeth, they can't bite big fish at all, so they naturally have to rely on small fish and shrimp to survive, of course, for baleen cetaceans, small fish and shrimp are enough.

Second, the whales of toothed cetaceans are relatively small in size, and they are used to fighting to change food, so they retain their sharp teeth

This is not the case with toothed whales, which are generally smaller in size and have sharp teeth! They are light and accustomed to catching large fish, and have retained sharp teeth in the process of evolution, which is completely different from baleen cetaceans; Because they have teeth, toothed cetaceans basically eat large fish, and even sea beasts in the sea. Unfortunately, because toothed whales live in shallow waters, the impact of industrialization has led to many threats to the lives of toothed whales, and many toothed whales have died because of the environment.

As the world's largest mammal,

Baleen whales have no teeth and can only eat small fish and shrimp.

There are two types of whales, baleen whales do not have formed teeth, and their mouths are full of soft teeth, so they cannot bite their prey, and can only prevent the fish that reach their mouths from escaping.

The reason why whales can only eat small fish and shrimp is that they have no formed teeth and cannot easily decompose large aquatic organisms, so they need to rely on a large number of small fish and shrimp to replenish energy.

Although whales are large, they feed filter-feeding, and because their teeth are small and dense, they cannot bite large prey, so they mainly eat small fish and shrimp.

This is the baleen whale among whales, because it does not have formed teeth and cannot obtain some food by biting, so it can only eat some small fish and shrimp.

As the largest fish in the world, whales only eat small fish and shrimp, do not eat people, and occasionally eat a little algae plants.

Although these fish are very large, they do not have enough lethal power.

Baleen whales are huge, and the smallest species is more than 6 meters long. Who would have thought that such a behemoth would feed on small fish and shrimp. It turns out that baleen whales have no teeth in their mouths and only have whiskers like combs, so they cannot chew large pieces of meat and can only live by devouring small fish and shrimp.

Often the largest animals feed on the smallest animals or creatures of the same type, which is the cycle of the food chain.

At the entrance of the Ocean Stadium, a shrimp dressed in armor proudly stood guard at the door of the sports venue.

At this time, a calf swam in from a distance. "Little whale, you can't go in! General Prawn shouted.

Why can't I go in? The whale was not convinced. "Because you're a mammal!

General Prawn said. "You see, I look like a fish, and people call me a whale! "Not to be outdone.

General Prawn won't lose to this black goo-rumbling thing! Then he used what he had learned and said, "You whales are viviparous.

How do you know? You're not a mother whale, have you ever given birth to a whale? The little whale said angrily.

General Shrimp didn't expect the whale, which was younger than him, to be so eloquent. Seeing that General Shrimp was out of recruitment, the little whale was about to go in, but was stopped by General Shrimp again. Why can't I go in?

The whale was furious. General Shrimp had an idea and said, "There are many small fish and shrimp in the stadium, if you go in, you have to eat it!"

General Prawn said. "How cute are the little fish and shrimp, I can't bear to eat them? Although the little whale said this, it was actually a little itchy in his heart.

You don't know where to blow the small fish and shrimp without even a breath! "General Shrimp is a bit imposing. "We breathe when we float to the surface of the sea to breathe, can small fish and shrimp swim in the air?

Whale said. General Shrimp retorted: "But your huge body must scare people to death!"

General Shrimp, you can't judge people by their appearance! You don't have a full understanding of our whales.

In fact, our advantages abound, and three-quarters of them are sports advantages, like we are so strong that we can be weightlifters! "Whale victory is in sight. "Hmm......General Prawn was speechless and ended in failure.

The whale happily entered the stadium!

Incredibly speaking, the largest animal on Earth, cetaceans (baleen whales), feed on the ocean's almost smallest animals, small fish and krill. This may seem unreasonable, but when you look at the special relationship between them, you feel that it makes sense. In the ocean, krill are not only huge in number, but also clump together at a high density.

They seem to have gathered in clumps according to some kind of "command", waiting for baleen whales to eat. Otherwise, the huge baleen whale will be exhausted in the vast ocean all day long, looking for food to catch, and it will not be able to fill its stomach no matter what. Similarly, krill, with their tenacious life and unique fecundity, have built up the largest dense colonies and continuously provided food for baleen whales.

All of this seems to have been carefully designed and arranged by God. For hundreds of millions of years, this peculiar pyramid of relationships between biological populations has maintained the way of life among marine populations.

Although whales are relatively large marine creatures, whales are very fond of eating small fish and shrimp, mainly because there are more small fish and shrimp in the ocean, and it is more convenient to catch.

Because there are a lot of small fish and shrimp in the ocean, it is effortless to catch, which can save physical strength and is rich in nutrition, so whales like to eat small fish and shrimp.

Because for the whale, it eats a very large amount, these small fish and shrimp can provide him with sufficient nutrition, and such small fish and shrimp are also very common in the ocean, so I like it very much.

Because it's safe and effortless. They have no requirements for the size and taste of the food, they can provide the physical strength to consume, it is dangerous to prey on larger fish, and small fish and shrimp are everywhere, and you can eat enough with just one mouth.

Because whale sharks have no teeth, they can't chew, and their stomachs can't digest large fish, so they can only eat small fish and shrimp. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world, but interestingly, whale sharks eat small fish and shrimp. The largest in size, but the food list is full of small fish and shrimp, and the whale shark is really peculiar.

The big reason why whale sharks only eat small fish and shrimp is that they have no teeth. The whale shark has the shark word for shark in its name, but it does not have the sharp teeth of a shark. The teeth of whale sharks are more like combs, which are very soft and do not have the function of biting.

Its soft teeth are just to prevent the small fish and shrimp in its mouth from escaping.

Some people may think that the whale shark is so big, why not swallow a large prey at a time like a snake, then it can go without eating for a long time. Although the whale shark is the largest fish, it has a worse digestion capacity in its stomach than that of snakes. If the fish is swallowed too large, it will be difficult for the stomach to digest, and it is likely that it will only be able to digest the surface.

Moreover, the food that cannot be digested will only increase the burden of stomach digestion, and because whale sharks do not have an excretory system, the food will only stay in the stomach, causing great harm to the stomach. Therefore, the only food that this huge whale shark can eat is small fish and shrimp.

But small and medium-sized fish and shrimp in the sea are not so easy to find. It can only be found in the sea area with higher temperatures. Small fish and shrimp feed on algae, which can only grow quickly when the sun and temperature are right.

Small fish and shrimp will reproduce in large numbers only when there is enough food. Whale sharks are large in size and consume a lot of natural food, and the food they can eat is such small fish and shrimp that whale sharks need to be in a place where small fish and shrimp breed a lot to fill their stomachs. In this way, the whale shark can still find enough small fish and shrimp to fill its stomach.

Overall, the whale shark is the largest fish, but it does not have hard teeth and cannot chew food, so it can only eat small fish and shrimp so that the stomach can digest better.

Although the whale shark is large, it is not strong and aggressive**, and its movement speed is not fast, so there is no way to catch large sea creatures, and it can only eat some small fish and shrimp.

Because whale sharks do not have sharp teeth, they are not able to bite food, and because they are large and need to eat a large amount, they choose to prey on small fish and shrimp that are small and do not need to be chewed in groups of small fish.

The feeding structure of sharks is strainer-type feeding. Sharks have relatively small teeth, making it difficult for them to hunt huge animals. These two habits make it impossible for sharks to attack larger beasts.