Baleen
Baleen (bȧ*lēn") , noun
[French baleine whale and whalebone, Latin balaena a whale; compare Greek fa`laina. ]
(Zoology & Commerce) Plates or blades of “whalebone,” from two to twelve feet long, and sometimes a foot wide, which in certain whales (Balanoidea) are attached side by side along the upper jaw, and form a fringelike sieve by which the food is retained in the mouth.