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Stretchy nerves withstand deformation associated with lunge feeding in rorqual whales (918.21)

Rorqual whales have evolved a remarkable feeding strategy that involves rapidly gulping enormous quantities of prey‐laden water and then more slowly separating the prey from the water by filtering the material through baleen plates suspended from the roof of the oral cavity. During the initial engulfment, the tongue inverts into a ventral pouch and balloons backwards as far as the umbilicus. Simultaneously muscles in the floor of the oral cavity, and the overlying ventral groove blubber, dramatically expand to accommodate the engulfed water that can reach a volume exceeding that of the whale itself. We have found that large nerves in the tongue and in the floor of the oral cavity of adult fin whales can stretch or extend up to twice their initial lengths. This contrasts with intercostal nerves that are virtually inextensible. Histological analysis demonstrates that nerves in the tongue and floor of the oral cavity are surrounded by a very thick connective tissue coating consisting of elastin and collagen, and that the central nerve bundle itself is folded or coiled into a small central core ‐ not unlike a coiled string inside a much thicker bunge‐cord. Intercostal nerves are not folded and have much thinner surrounding walls. Stretchy nerves are yet another extreme morphological adaptation to lunge feeding in rorqual whales.