California Gray Whale Tutorial F eeding Unlike most baleen whales, the gray whale must get its food from the sediment on the ocean floor. The amphipods the whales eat can be found there. This is an amphipod.
Amphipods are tiny shrimp like animals that live in sediment on the ocean floor.
The whale's mouth will fill up with sediment. The amphipods living in the sediment will also enter the mouth. The whale will stay down for 3 to 5 minutes to eat. A trail of dents in the ocean floor is left behind where the whale hit the ground. The whale has no teeth to chew its food, so must swallow it whole.