What does an adult gray whale eat?

Adult gray whales are baleen whales, meaning they have baleen plates instead of teeth. These plates are made of keratin, the same material as human fingernails, and are used to filter food from the water.

Adult gray whales primarily feed on tiny crustaceans called krill and other small invertebrates like amphipods and copepods. They also eat some small fish.

To find their food, gray whales use a technique called mud-plugging. They scoop up large amounts of sediment from the ocean floor, using their baleen plates to filter out the food particles and expel the mud and water.