back to article EXTREME FEEDING: BLUE whales' gluttonous gobbling of fishy fluids

Marine mammal boffins are less baffled by blue whales, having discovered that stretchy nerves allow the beasts to gobble the gallons upon gallons of water and food they are famous for guzzling. In a paper with the pleasantly explicit title "Stretchy nerves are an essential component of the extreme feeding mechanism of rorqual …

  1. frank ly

    Nothing new under the sun

    "... nervous fibres were wound tightly about a central core which itself unfolded as the cable stretched."

    They invented the telephone cord :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nothing new under the sun

      Nature does it better. Have you ever seen a whale's tongue wrapped around itself 20 times?

  2. Little Mouse
    Facepalm

    Wake up El-Reg!

    Gobbling? Swallowing? Lunging? Elastic throats?

    So much potential. Wasted.

    1. Bill B
      Coat

      Re: Wake up El-Reg!

      Wales are noted for their blow jobs.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Wake up El-Reg!

          If my experiences visiting Wales were anything to go by, Bill B was referring to whales.

  3. Alistair
    Headmaster

    Whale mouth.

    Lunge feeding.

    Elastic nerves.

    I see business use cases all *over* the place, right beside the vampire squid et al.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Whale mouth.

      Lunge Feeding... we already have this in the States. It's called an "all you can eat, buffet".

      Elastic Nerves... Lots of potential when the WiFi is down and you need to cable up the laptop sitting 10 feet away from the ethernet port and all you have is a 7 foot cord.

  4. FozzyBear

    Rubber-band nerve lets them gulp straight down throats

    Though rare this can also be present in the female of our speciies. Whilst this may marginalise her from the other females, this trait can be highly prized by the males.

    Damn I miss her!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Rubber-band nerve lets them gulp straight down throats

      She says to say hi.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Rubber-band nerve lets them gulp straight down throats

      I think she has bigger fish to fry now.

      1. DugEBug
        Pint

        Re: Rubber-band nerve lets them gulp straight down throats

        I was waiting for someone to equate this with the special nerve that exists in humans for a brief time during their early adulthood. It is mostly utilized to win beer guzzling contests in college dorm parties.

  5. ducatis'r us
    Unhappy

    iceland

    Presumably they had to go to Iceland to find a dead whale

    1. AceRimmer
      Joke

      Re: iceland

      I didn't realise they had freezers that big

      1. laird cummings

        Re: iceland

        Iceland *is* the freezer...

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