Alright, whale first, question after.
The Titan Whale is a massive cetacean that superficially resembles a blue whale with a few notable differences.
- The Titan has four fins, (not including the dorsal fin) roughly corresponding to the position of limbs on a terrestrial quadruped. These fins are proportionately larger than those of a blue whale.
- The Titan possess two blowholes arranged in a line along its dorsal surface.
- The whale’s final life stage sees it grow to massive sizes > 1,000 feet up to ridiculous size (TM).
- The whale is capable of eating a much wider variety of foods, including plant and animal matter.
- The Titan possesses a special organ in its mouth and throat that unfurls into a very large, branching, tree-like filament structure that filters small food from the water, entangles larger prey items, participates in respiration by absorbing oxygen and releasing CO2, and releasing heat, thus cooling the whale.
The Titan whale behaves very similarly to blue whales and sperm whales until it reaches its final life stage. As it begins to reach its maximum size it becomes more solitary and spends the majority of its time floating lazily in the open ocean, passively absorbing food and nutrients and only rousing for more worthwhile prey or to graze on aquatic mega-flora.
So I know that a creature this size is a bit ludicrous, and that it has a lot of issues due to the square cube law, but I would like to reduce the necessary amounts of hand waving and unobtainium. My question primarily concerns #5 on the list above. Basically an extendable organ that is both a digestive and respiratory organ all rolled up in one. This should help cool the animal and aid the issue of getting enough food and oxygen. So now here comes the question,
Is an organ like this biologically possible? Of course, all extra information and opinions on how it would look and function are welcome. If the organ isn’t possible as described, why not and what could be done to fix it?
PS: Sorry for the long post and extra info, but I may link back here later and I don’t want to have to type all this over and over again.