The species within Bryde's are baleen whales, meaning that
instead of teeth, they have long plates which hang in a row
(like the teeth of a comb) from its upper jaws. Baleen plates
are strong and flexible; they are made of a protein similar to
human fingernails. Baleen plates are broad at the base (gumline)
and taper into a fringe which forms a curtain or mat inside the
whale's mouth. Baleen whales strain huge volumes of ocean water
through their baleen plates to capture food: tons of krill,
other zooplankton, crustaceans, and small fish. While there now
appear to be three whales within this complex, other
subpopulations may come to be recognized as distinct species.
The IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species describes the situation
as follows: "There is an "ordinary" Bryde's Whale, with a
worldwide distribution in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic
oceans, which grows to about 14 m in length, and one or more
smaller forms which tend to be more coastal in distribution. The
taxonomic status of the smaller forms is u