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Baleen whale

   The skeleton of the Baleen whale is suspended from the ceiling along the centre of the hall, and a skull of another specimen of the same species is mounted on the wall space opposite to the front end of the entire skeleton of the whale. The skeleton of the Whale, which is exhibited is a medium sized one, measuring over 60 feet in length and was washed ashore in Mangalore in 1874. This species (Balaenoptera indica = Balaenoptera musculus) the distribution of which ranges over the a Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea belongs to the great group known as the Baleen Whales, characterised by the presence of a brush-like structure composed of numerous plates of baleen or whale bone, serving to strain the small crustaceans and molluscs from water on which these whales feed.