• Rorqual whales open their mouths and lunge to eat while their tongues invert and their mouths fill like giant water balloons full of floating prey as seen in this undated illustration courtesy of the University of British Columbia (UBC). UBC researchers 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. | HANDOUT / UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA / CURRENT BIOLOGY 2015 / VOGL ET AL. / REUTERS
    Rorqual whales open their mouths and lunge to eat while their tongues invert and their mouths fill like giant water balloons full of floating prey as seen in this undated illustration courtesy of the University of British Columbia (UBC). UBC researchers 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. | HANDOUT / UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA / CURRENT BIOLOGY 2015 / VOGL ET AL. / REUTERS

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WASHINGTON – When the fin whale gets ready to eat, Earth’s second-largest animal opens its mouth so wide that it can gulp an amount of water larger than the volume of its own body as it filters out meals of tiny fish and shrimp-like krill.

When feeding, this whale measuring up to about 88 feet (26.8 meters) long and 70 tons increases its swimming speed, opens its mouth and lunges in the ocean.

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