Frigid, arctic waters support some of the largest whale species, such as the humpback and the blue whale. Read more about how these whales feed on the Special Tours Wildlife Adventures blog. Baleen whales feed only in arctic waters, eating mostly krill, plankton, and other small marine animals. Very rarely, a female narwhal will grow a tusk or a male will grow two tusks. Ironically inside their mouths, narwhals do not have any teeth at all! Bubble netting is a group activity that can involve up to several dozen humpback whales. Humpback and -minke whales have a remarkable way of feeding that has made teeth useless. Humpback whales are a species of baleen whale, meaning that they do not have teeth; rather, they have baleen plates that they use to filter seawater and extract small prey animals. The whale with the biggest full set of teeth is the sperm whale. Instead of teeth they have baleen plates that they use to filter out their tiny food from the seawater. Those characters show that baleen whales evolved from ancestors that had hair and teeth. Dolphin vs. Whale Feeding. Humpback Whales belong to the family of baleen wheels, which have a series of curtain-like filters in their mouths instead of teeth. Sperm whales have 40 to 52 cone-shaped teeth, up to10 to 20cm (4 to 8in) long, in their narrow lower jaws only. No, they have baleen. And other species of toothed whale (such as the sperm whale) may only have rows of teeth on their lower jaw and none on their upper jaw. Killer whales recognize the danger. No; the humpback whale has about 330 pairs of dark gray baleen plates with coarse gray bristles hanging from the jaws. Thus, more recent evolution of these complex blubber traits occurred after baleen whales and toothed whales split, and only in the toothed whale lineage. Moving through clouds of krill or schools of smaller-sized fish, they suck in large amounts of water, then push the water back out through their baleens, trapping the krill inside. Add to that the fact that whale embryos don't form a blowhole directly: instead, they first form 2 nostrils just about the mouth - like land mammals begin with and have as adults - that then must migrate to the top of the head anf fuse to form the blowhole. Humpback whales do not live in tight-knit social groups, instead they travel either alone or in transient groupings of two or three individuals (pods) that disband after a few hours, although longer-term associations have been observed. Add to that the fact that whale embryos don't form a blowhole directly: instead, they first form 2 nostrils just about the mouth - like land mammals begin with and have as adults - that then must migrate to the top of the head anf fuse to form the blowhole. Because the humpback whale is a baleen whale it does not possess teeth so it must capture its food using various hunting methods. The whale's tongue plays a vital role in filter feeding, as it is used to push the water out of its mouth while keeping the prey trapped in its baleen bristles. Some whales (such as the narwhal) have only one or two teeth while others species (such as the short-beaked common dolphin) have as many as 240 teeth or more. Teeth aren’t the only difference between toothed whales and baleen whales. Though killer whales have teeth, and are smaller and more agile, a blow from the massive humpback tail or flipper could be fatal. Baleen whales have two blowholes, while toothed whales only have one. One technique these whales are known to use is known as bubble netting. Unlike toothed whales, baleen whales do not have wax ester deposits nor branched fatty chain acids in their blubber. Those characters show that baleen whales evolved from ancestors that had hair and teeth. The humpback whales often hunt by forming a ring of bubbles around their prey which then obstructs escape. As humpback whales do not have teeth, their food is swallowed whole and travels down the esophagus into the preliminary stomach (known as the forestomach) to be ground.