Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants.

The largest animals are marine filter feeders, but the underlying mechanism of their large size remains unexplained. We measured feeding performance and prey quality to demonstrate how whale gigantism is driven by the interplay of prey abundance and harvesting mechanisms that increase prey capture rates and energy intake. The foraging efficiency of toothed whales that feed on single prey is constrained by the abundance of large prey, whereas filter-feeding baleen whales seasonally exploit vast swarms of small prey at high efficiencies. Given temporally and spatially aggregated prey, filter feeding provides an evolutionary pathway to extremes in body size that are not available to lineages that must feed on one prey at a time. Maximum size in filter feeders is likely constrained by prey availability across space and time.

Mechanics, hydrodynamics and energetics of blue whale lunge feeding: efficiency dependence on krill density.

Lunge feeding by rorqual whales (Balaenopteridae) is associated with a high energetic cost that decreases diving capacity, thereby limiting access to dense prey patches at depth. Despite this cost, rorquals exhibit high rates of lipid deposition and extremely large maximum body size. To address this paradox, we integrated kinematic data from digital tags with unsteady hydrodynamic models to estimate the energy budget for lunges and foraging dives of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), the largest rorqual and living mammal. Our analysis suggests that, despite the large amount of mechanical work required to lunge feed, a large amount of prey and, therefore, energy is obtained during engulfment. Furthermore, we suggest that foraging efficiency for blue whales is significantly higher than for other marine mammals by nearly an order of magnitude, but only if lunges target extremely high densities of krill. The high predicted efficiency is attributed to the enhanced engulfment capacity, rapid filter rate and low mass-specific metabolic rate associated with large body size in blue whales. These results highlight the importance of high prey density, regardless of prey patch depth, for efficient bulk filter feeding in baleen whales and may explain some diel changes in foraging behavior in rorqual whales.