Gigantic whales have stretchy 'bungee cord' nerves

Date:May 4, 2015

Source:University of British Columbia

Summary:Biologists have discovered a unique nerve structure in the mouth and tongue of rorqual whales that can double in length and then recoil like a bungee cord. The stretchy nerves explain how the massive whales are able to balloon an immense pocket between their body wall and overlying blubber to capture prey during feeding dives.

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A Whale of a Discovery: New Sensory Organ Found in Rorqual Whales

ScienceDaily (May 23, 2012) — Scientists at the University of British Columbia and the Smithsonian Institution have discovered a sensory organ in rorqual whales that coordinates its signature lunge-feeding behaviour -- and may help explain their enormous size.

Rorquals are a subgroup of baleen whales -- including blue, fin, minke and humpback whales. They are characterized by a special, accordion-like blubber layer that goes from the snout to the navel. The blubber expands up to several times its resting length to allow the whales to engulf large quantities of prey-laden water, which is then expelled through the baleen to filter krill and fish.

The study, to be featured on the cover of the journal Nature, details the discovery of an organ at the tip of the whale's chin, lodged in the ligamentous tissue that connects their two jaws.

Samples were collected from recently deceased fin and minke whale carcasses captured as part of Icelandic commercial whaling operations. Commercial whaling in Iceland resumed in 2006 and quotas are determined annually by its government.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120523133242.htm