the.com/baleen
A whale's mustache, repurposed as the ocean's most elegant pasta strainer.
means The keratin filter plates hanging from some whales' upper jaws that sieve tiny prey from gulped seawater.
from From Latin balaena, meaning whale, via French baleine; the plates were once called whalebone despite containing no bone whatsoever.
Same stuffMade of keratin, like your fingernails.
Corset eraOnce stiffened dresses, umbrellas, and Victorian whips.
Bristle mathA blue whale carries hundreds of fringed plates.