The skull was around 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in length.[3] Like more evolved baleen whales, its jaws had baleen instead of teeth, meaning that it could filter plankton with its baleen plates.[4][5][6][7] However, primitive baleen whales may have retained enamel coated teeth embedded in the gums, similar to modern sperm whales.[8] Baleen whales, as a group, may be sensitive to low-frequency sounds.[9]
Unlike modern baleen whales, Eomysticetus had a blowhole that was positioned ahead of the eyes, and the characteristics of its vertebrae and flipper bones are akin to those of archaeocetes like Basilosaurus.[4]
References
^ abSanders, A. E.; Barnes, L. G. (2002). "Paleontology of the Late Oligocene Ashley and Chandler Bridge Formations of South Carolina, 3: Eomysticetidae, a new family of primitive mysticetes (Mammalia: Cetacea)". In Emry, R. J. (ed.). Cenozoic Mammals of Land and Sea: Tributes to the Career of Clayton E. Ray. Vol. 93. pp. 313–356. hdl:10088/22502. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help) (148Mb)
^Y. Okazaki. 2012. A new mysticete form the upper Oligocene Ashiya Group, Kyushu, Japan and its significance to mysticete evolution. Bulletin of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History Series A (Natural History) 10:129-152
^Boessenecker, R. W., Fordyce, R. E. (2014), A new Eomysticetid (Mammalia: Cetacea) from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand and a re-evaluation of ‘Mauicetus’ waitakiensis. Papers in Palaeontology. doi: 10.1002/spp2.1005
^Robert W. Boessenecker and R. Ewan Fordyce (2015). "A new genus and species of eomysticetid (Cetacea: Mysticeti) and a reinterpretation of ‘Mauicetus’ lophocephalus Marples, 1956: Transitional baleen whales from the upper Oligocene of New Zealand". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. in press. doi:10.1111/zoj.12297.