Part 10

The HUMP-BACKED WHALE, Megaptera longimana (Rudolphi), the only member of the first genus known to occur in the British seas, has been recorded at least three times; first at Newcastle in September, 1839, again in the estuary of the Dee, in 1863, and in Wick Bay, Caithnesshire, in March, 1871. Capt. Gray tells me they are not uncommon off the east coast of Scotland in summer, and that he has known several captured off Peterhead, three having been brought in in one season. It is possible other examples may have been mistaken for Rorquals, from which this species may at once be distinguished externally by the great length of its flippers, which are white and very conspicuous.

Herr Collett says that this species is met with every spring, on the northern coast of Norway, particularly in the Varanger Fjord; although generally occurring in small numbers, it is occasionally found in great quantities. On one occasion a steam vessel was surrounded by them as far as the eye could see, and great care had to be used to avoid running against them. South of the polar circle, he says it only occurs in small numbers. In August, 1880, Capt. Gray saw vast numbers of these Whales about one hundred miles N.E. of Iceland; the sea, he states, seemed to be quite full of them as far as he could see from the mast-head. They were accompanied by a small species of “Finner,” with a white band across the fin (B. rostrata).

The total length of the animal is about 45 to 50 feet, its baleen is black, and the flippers, which are white and notched at the edge, from 10 to 14 feet in length.

THE COMMON RORQUAL.

To the genus Balænoptera belong the Rorquals or Fin-whales, the first species of which is the COMMON RORQUAL, Balænoptera musculus (Linn.), the Balænoptera boops of Bell’s first edition, and Physalus antiquorum of Gray. This is a much more active animal than the Right-whale; it is difficult of approach, and, upon being harpooned, such is the velocity with which it shoots through the water that the danger is very great; Scoresby mentions one which took out 480 fathoms of line in about one minute. In addition to this, the whalebone is short and of little value, and the yield of oil small; it is therefore avoided by the whalers, as more dangerous than profitable, and if struck at all, it is most likely a case of mistaken identity. From the port of Vadsö, however, the capture of this, and the species immediately preceding and following, is now successfully effected by means of an explosive shell or harpoon, which kills them at once. This fishery was established about the year 1865, by Herr Svend Foyn, from Tonsberg, and is still very successfully prosecuted, as many as 50 Whales being obtained each summer; they are towed into Vadsö, where the blubber is refined and the carcase made into manure.

The habitat of the Common Rorqual is the temperate Northern seas, from the Mediterranean, which it sometimes enters, to the 70° north latitude, and sometimes even farther north still. Nordenskiöld, in the ‘Œolus,’ last saw Finners on the 18th May, 1861, in lat. 75° 45′, the temperature of the water being between 2·50° and 3·8° C., and they were not again seen until the return of the expedition in September, in 78° north latitude, the temperature of the water being then about 3·8° C. He remarks, “It is probable that ‘Finners’ never live in colder water than this, and that the northern limit of their distribution coincides with sea of this temperature. It has to be kept in view, however, that this boundary line lies several degrees further to the north in summer than in winter.”

The range of this group is very great, and, according to Andrew Murray, it would appear that one or more of the Balænopteridæ is found over the whole world, although it is by no means certain that any particular species has a very wide geographical range. Megaptera longimana, which occurs in the North Sea, was also supposed to have been met with at the Cape, but Dr. Gray has pointed out differences in the cervical vertebræ of an individual from that locality, which he considers constitute distinct specific characters; on the other hand, a Fin-whale from Java so closely resembles our Balænoptera laticeps that Professor Flower, after the most careful examination and comparison almost bone by bone, hesitates to pronounce it distinct, and only separates it provisionally. In our own seas this species is of frequent occurrence, more especially on the Scotch coast, where it appears in the early autumn, attracted by the shoals of herring which abound there at that season. In feeding, the Rorquals are not so restricted to minute marine animals as the Right-Whale, but devour large quantities of fish of various sizes, from herrings up to cod. In the stomach of the Newcastle Humpbacked Whale (the species mentioned immediately before the present one) were found six cormorants, but a seventh, found in its throat, was supposed to have caused its death by choking it. The blowing is accompanied by a loud noise, which, on a still night, may be heard at a considerable distance. It was formerly supposed that in “blowing” the Whale ejected from its nostrils a very considerable quantity of water, which might be seen to spout up into the air like a fountain; and in the performance of this remarkable feat they were generally depicted. Beale, however, in his ‘Natural History of the Sperm Whale,’ as early as 1838, showed that this is not the case, and the truth of his observations is now generally acknowledged. The power so to eject water taken into its capacious mouth is, of course, impossible, the blow-hole being in direct communication with the lungs, and not with the cavity of the mouth, nor would it be of any service to the Whalebone-Whales, as the very purpose of the baleen is to form a screening apparatus through which the water is ejected, leaving its minute prey behind; and in the toothed Whales it would not be required. What appears like a jet of water is, in reality, dense vapour--in fact, the breath issuing from the lungs of the animal, highly charged with moisture, which becomes condensed upon exposure to the atmosphere. It often happens, too, that the Whale lets off the imprisoned air just before the blow-hole reaches the surface of the water, or that a wave passes over it at the moment of respiration, the water is thus dashed aside by the blast, and, probably, some of it really carried up into the air, thus heightening the deceptive effect.

This species, when adult, reaches the length of about 70 feet, the upper part is black, the throat and belly white and plaited, the flippers black. The baleen is short and slate colour, veined with streaks of darker shade, but growing lighter towards the inner edge.

Dead Whales, when stranded on the shore, after floating long at sea, are generally greatly distended with gas, which generates rapidly in the tissues after decomposition has set in; in such an inflated condition only a very imperfect conception can be formed of the true proportions of the vast beast. There is frequently, also, a great protrusion of membrane from the mouth, arising from the same cause, and other appearances in the male animal, due to the pressure of gas in the abdominal cavity are generally faithfully portrayed in old books of Natural History.

A Whale of this species, taken off the North coast of Scotland, in April, 1880, was purchased by an enterprising individual in Birmingham, to which town it was conveyed by rail, and there exhibited: probably, this was the greatest distance from the sea at which an entire Cetacean, 63 feet in length, had ever been seen.

The figure of this species is copied, by kind permission of Professor Flower, from the illustration to his paper in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London’ for 1869, p. 604, et. seq.

SIBBALD’S RORQUAL.

SIBBALD’S RORQUAL (Balænoptera sibbaldii, J. E. Gray; also Sibbaldius borealis, Gray, and Physalus latirostris, Flower), has several times been met with in British waters, particularly on the east coast of Scotland. It is the largest of this gigantic family, measuring from 80 to perhaps 100 feet in length. One seen by Herr Foyn he estimated at the enormous length of 133 English feet! The famous “Ostend Whale,” which was found floating dead in the North Sea, in 1827, and taken into Ostend, belonged to this species; its skeleton was long exhibited in this country, and afterwards in America. Dr. Gray says it is now in St. Petersburg, and gives the total length as 102 feet; as, however, several of the vertebræ are missing, the exact length is uncertain. Professor Turner gives the length of a specimen stranded in the Firth of Forth as 78 feet 9 inches, and the girth behind the flippers about 45 feet: this animal was gravid, but notwithstanding this fact, the bulk must have been enormous.

Herr Rt. Collett, in his ‘Norges Pattedyrfauna,’ gives a very full account of this species, as observed by him on the Norwegian coast. In June, 1874, he had the opportunity of visiting Herr Svend Foyn’s establishment for whale-catching, at Vadsö, and in addition to being enabled to examine three individuals of this species in a fresh state, received much information as to their habits from Herr Foyn and the men engaged in the fishery. This Whale, from its colour, is known by the fishers as the “Blue Whale,” and appears to have its home in winter in the open seas, between the North Cape and Spitsbergen. By the end of April or beginning of May it approaches the coast, entering the larger Fjords towards the end of the latter month, to feast upon the enormous quantities of Thysanopoda inermis, then found there; it is also seen in summer along the coast from Loffoden to the North Cape, and further to the eastward. When the wind is on the land or in any stormy weather, it seeks the open sea. Varanger Fjord is the favourite hunting-ground for this species, and in the last few years the average number taken there has been thirty; in 1874, as many as 42 were taken: it leaves the Fjord, however, should stormy weather set in. No specimen examined by Herr Collett, or Professor Sars, had taken any other food than Thysanopoda inermis, and Herr Foyn and his catchers are all of opinion that they do not eat fish. To obtain the little Crustacean on which they feed and which is found congregated in separate masses, the Whale passes backwards and forwards with its mouth open, till the cavity is well filled, it then closes its capacious jaws upon the contents. Herr Collett found two or three barrels of these small crustaceans in the stomach of a Blue Whale which he examined, and was told that a large one would consume as much as ten barrels.

The female appears, as a rule, to be longer than the male; the young are born about the autumn, one appears to be the usual number, but two young ones have more than once been seen with the same old female.

This species may be known by its low dorsal fin, black baleen, and long flippers, which are black above and whitish below: this should be borne in mind, as it is not at all improbable that some, at least, of the enormous cetaceans which are occasionally reported from the North of Scotland, belong to this species; so very unsatisfactory, however, are the reports which appear in print, that it is rarely a single feature is mentioned by which the species may be determined.

RUDOLPHI’S RORQUAL.

RUDOLPHI’S RORQUAL (Balænoptera laticeps, J. E. Gray) is a small species which may readily be mistaken for the Lesser Rorqual. A Whale stranded at Charmouth in February, 1840, and described by Mr. Yarrell, under the name of Balænoptera boops, in the proceedings of the Zoological Society for that year, is believed to have been of this species, but the skeleton, although prepared at the time, is supposed to have been sold and converted into manure. The same individual is recorded under the name of B. tenuirostris, in the Mag. of Nat. History, iv., 1840, p. 342, by Mr. R. H. Sweeting. Very little is known about the history or distribution of this species; the flippers are entirely black above, wanting the white band found in the next species, and the baleen is believed to be black.

LESSER RORQUAL.

The next and last of the Whalebone-Whales which we know to have occurred in the British Seas is the LESSER RORQUAL (Balænoptera rostrata, Fab.; Rorqualus minor, Knox), (Fig. 15). Many individuals of this species have been obtained on various parts of the coast, from Cornwall to the North of Scotland. On the coast of Norway it is frequently met with, and is there called the “Bay-Whale,” from its habit of entering bays and estuaries; this habit the natives take advantage of for its destruction. Stretching a strong net across the inlet, they cut off its escape, and put a cruel and often protracted end to its existence with harpoons and arrows, the poor Whale sometimes lingering from eight to fourteen days. This species is also known as the “Summer-Whale,” and does not appear to be so strictly a northern species as the Balænopteridæ generally are: it is believed, like the Common Rorqual, to have been taken in the Mediterranean. A Whale of this species, taken at Mevagissey, in Cornwall, at the end of April, 1880, was conveyed to London, and there exhibited in the Old Kent Road.

The Lesser Rorqual, from its small size (not exceeding 30 feet), is not liable to be mistaken for any other species except the preceding (Rudolphi’s Rorqual), and from that it may be distinguished by the broad white band across its black flipper; the baleen also is nearly white, which is another good distinction. The figure of this species is copied from the illustration to an article by Messrs. Carte and Macalister, on the Anatomy of Balænoptera rostrata, in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ of the Royal Society for 1868, vol. clviii.

In the table on the next page I have endeavoured to give the most striking external peculiarities of our British Mystacoceti. They are easily remembered, and will be useful in identifying specimens, should no authority be at hand. The table also indicates the external points to be observed by a person not acquainted with this class of animals, and is most serviceable to enable others to identify doubtful specimens.

TABLE OF DIFFERENCES OF BRITISH MYSTACOCETI (WHALEBONE WHALES).

+------------------------+---------------+---------+-----------------+ | | COLOUR. | | | | SPECIES. + ------+-------+Belly and| Flippers. | | | Upper | Under | Throat. | | | | Part. | Part. | | | +------------------------+-------+-------+---------+-----------------+ | Balæna mysticetus, | Dark | Throat| Smooth | Black | |Greenland Right-Whale | grey | white | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Balæna biscayensis, |Uniform|Uniform| Smooth | Black | | Atlantic Right-Whale | black | black | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Megaptera longimana, |Black | Black | Plaited | Wholly white,| | Humpbacked Whale | | and | (plicæ) |about 12 ft. long| | | | white | |and notched at | | | | | |the edge | | | | | | | |Balænoptera musculus, |Black | White | Plaited | Black | | Common Rorqual | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Balænoptera sibbaldii,|Black | Slate | Plaited |Dark above, | | Sibbald’s Rorqual | | grey | | White beneath, | | | | | | 12 feet or more| | | | | | long | | | | | | | |Balænoptera laticeps, |Black | White | Plaited | Upper part | | Rudolphi’s Rorqual | | | | black | | | | | | | |Balænoptera rostrata, |Black | White | Plaited |Black, with | | Lesser Rorqual | | | | broad band of | | | | | | white across | +------------------------+-------+-------+---------+-----------------+

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | BALEEN. | | | SPECIES. | Dorsal |----------+------------+ Total | | | Fin. | Length. | Colour. | Length. | | | | | | | +------------------------+--------+ ---------+------------+-----------+ | Balæna mysticetus, | None |Long and | Blackish | 50 or 60 | |Greenland Right-Whale | | narrow; | grey | feet | | | | 10 or 12| | | | | | feet | | | | | | | | | | Balæna biscayensis, | None |Shorter | ... |40 feet (?)| | Atlantic Right-Whale | | than the| | | | | | above | | | | | | | | | | Megaptera longimana, |Very low| Short | Black |About | | Humpbacked Whale | | | | 50 feet | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Balænoptera musculus, |Distinct| Short |Slate |About 70 | | Common Rorqual | | | colour-- | feet | | | | | shaded | | | | | | lighter to| | | | | | inner | | | | | | edge | | | | | | | | |Balænoptera sibbaldii,|Very low| Short |Rich | 80 to 100 | | Sibbald’s Rorqual | | | black | feet | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Balænoptera laticeps, | ? | Short | Black (?) | 30 or 40 | | Rudolphi’s Rorqual | | | | feet | | | | | | | |Balænoptera rostrata, | High | Short | Yellowish | 25 to 30 | | Lesser Rorqual | | | white | feet | | | | | | | +------------------------+--------+----------+------------+-----------+

ODONTOCETI (TOOTHED WHALES).

PHYSETERIDÆ.

The second sub-order into which the Cetacea are divided, is the Odontoceti, or Toothed Whales. In this section, baleen is never present, but well-developed teeth are found in one or both jaws of the adult; in some species they are very numerous; sometimes, though rarely, deciduous. The blow-hole is single, and the skull generally asymmetrical, or not precisely alike on both sides of the medial line. Professor Flower divides the Odontoceti into three families, one of which, the Platanistidæ, as already said, is found only in India and South America: the other two, Physeteridæ and Delphinidæ, are represented in our Fauna by about fifteen species.