Southern right whales are seasonal feeders which means that they only
feed during austral summer when they have migrated to the Antarctic
regions. In austral winters, right whales are at their breeding grounds.
Right whales are carnivores that filter feed tiny crustaceans such as
copepods, krill, pteropods, etc. They are ‘skimmers’, swimming slowly (4
to 5km/h) with their mouth open, constantly eating.
On occasion, they are also bottom feeders, eating benthic crustaceans
from the mud of the ocean floor.
Right whales are usually solitary feeders, although dense plankton
swarms in a limited area may attract larger numbers of whales.