CALDWELL ET AL.: CETACEANS OF ST. VINCENT 



Table 1. — Landings of blackfish (Glohiceplinlii macrorhyiichn) at the port of Barrouallie, St. Vincent, for the peri- 

 od January 1962, through December 1970. Precise data concerning the following variables, in part affecting the 

 numbers of blackfish landed, are not available : weather conditions, seasonal holidays, numbers of whaling boats 

 operating that month, and more recently, the presence or absence of engines. 



^ No records kept, but blackfish taken. 

 2 Based on landings for 8 years only. 

 ^ Year incomplete. 



iations reflect local weather conditions which 

 affect the ability of the boats to go out and the 

 whalemen to see their quarry, more than tlie 

 true abundance of whales. In addition, whaling 

 usually almost or completely ceases for approx- 

 imately 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after Christ- 

 mas, in observance of the holidays. We are told 

 that the blackfish are there year round. 



Orcintts orca (LINNAEUS)-KILLER WHALE 



On 13 May 1968, two females (an adult [SV- 

 1-00] and subadult [SV-2-00] of unknown 

 sizes) and one juvenile male (SV-3-00 of un- 

 known size) were harpooned from a pod of six 

 animals. The young male was harpooned first, 

 and the other animals reportedly stood by (see 

 M. C. Caldwell and D. K. Caldwell, 1966, re- 

 garding this kind of behavior) just as the St. 

 Vincent whalemen report the blackfish in that 

 fishery often do when certain ones of their kind 

 ai-e harpooned. We have several color photo- 

 graphs of the carcasses which show the striking 

 black and white color pattern characteristic of 

 this species. The skulls of the three harpooned 

 specimens are now in the possession of the 

 Caldwells. 



Sullivan noted that one of the larger animals 

 had several cyamid parasites on the skin, but 

 specimens were not collected. His photographs 

 show only that the parasites are cyamids but as 



Leung (1967) did not include Orclnus among 

 the known hosts for cyamids the observation is 

 noted. Caldwell and Caldwell (1969) reported 

 that all three of these whales had eaten leather- 

 back sea turtle (Dermochebjs coriacea). 



Three additional killer whales, including a 

 6-m male with very heavily worn teeth, were 

 taken from a school of eight on 11 July 1968, 

 but no specimens or photographs are available. 

 One of the animals reportedly had cyamid |)ar- 

 asites. The school was said to have been moving 

 north about 10 km off the lee shore of the island. 

 The fishermen's records show that four more 

 were taken on 4 June 1969. 



Jackson (see footnote 7) noted that killer 

 whales are taken in the St. Vincent fishery and 

 included photographs of carcasses being butch- 

 ered on shore- Rathjen and Sullivan (1970) and 

 Caldwell and Caldwell (in press) also noted the 

 occasional capture of individuals of this species 

 by the St. Vincent whalemen. 



These records are the southernmost in the 

 western Noilh Atlantic for killer whales. 

 Moore (1953) listed this species from off Miami, 

 and Backus (1961) from the Bahamas. Erdman 

 (1970) included several sight records from the 

 general vicinity of the Virgin Islands. In the 

 western South Atlantic, killer whales have not 

 been reported north of Buenos Aires (as the 

 type of Orca magellanica Burmeister — see 

 Hershkovitz, 1966: 84). 



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