Here's how baleen works:
* Rows of plates hang from the whale's upper jaw.
* The plates are fringed with bristles.
* The whale swims through the water with its mouth open, filtering out krill, plankton, and small fish.
* The water is then forced out through the baleen plates, trapping the food.
This feeding method is called baleen filtering, and it's highly efficient for capturing small prey in large quantities.