baleen whale

baleen whale

n.

Any of several usually large whales of the suborder Mysticeti, such as the right whale and rorquals, having a symmetrical skull, two blowholes, and whalebone plates instead of teeth. Also called mysticete, whalebone whale.

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baleen whale

n

(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Animals) another name for whalebone whale

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baleen whale

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. Compare toothed whale.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

baleen whale - whale with plates of whalebone along the upper jaw for filtering plankton from the water whalebone whale whale - any of the larger cetacean mammals having a streamlined body and breathing through a blowhole on the head Mysticeti, suborder Mysticeti - baleen whales: right whales; rorquals; blue whales; humpbacks right whale - large Arctic whalebone whale; allegedly the `right' whale to hunt because of its valuable whalebone and oil Balaena mysticetus, bowhead, bowhead whale, Greenland whale - large-mouthed Arctic whale rorqual, razorback - any of several baleen whales of the family Balaenopteridae having longitudinal grooves on the throat and a small pointed dorsal fin Balaenoptera musculus, blue whale, sulfur bottom - largest mammal ever known; bluish-grey migratory whalebone whale mostly of southern hemisphere humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, humpback - large whalebone whale with long flippers noted for arching or humping its back as it dives devilfish, Eschrichtius gibbosus, Eschrichtius robustus, gray whale, grey whale - medium-sized greyish-black whale of the northern Pacific