The white cells were remarkable in 

 that no small lymphocytes, eosinophils, 

 or basophils were seen. Otherwise, 

 their numbers and percentages appear 

 to be near the normal limits. Of interest 

 is the occurrence of "drumstick" ap- 

 pendages in 21 percent of the mature 

 segmented neutrophils. These were 

 described by Davidson and Smith 

 (1954) in human blood as a genetic 

 sex indicator for females. They occur 

 in 1-17 percent of the segmented 

 neutrophils of all human females and 

 are thought to represent the inactivat- 

 ed X-chromosome. analogous to the 

 Barr body observed in most somatic 

 cells. It can be reasonably assumed 

 that also in the whale, drumsticks in 

 the neutrophils are indicators for the 

 female sex. 



The uniform electrophoretic mobil- 

 ity of this gray whale's hemoglobin, 

 characteristic of human hemoglobin 

 F. is in accordance with the finding of 

 others (Lenfant, 1969). Of further 

 interest was the hemoglobin's resistance 

 to alkali denaturation. However, no 

 conclusions can be drawn from this 

 coincidental sharing of two physical 

 properties with human hemoglobin F 

 as to functional or structural similari- 

 ties between these two hemoglobins. 

 The reasons for the alkali resistance 

 of certain hemoglobin variants are 

 poorly understood. In the human this 

 is related not only to the presence of 

 gamma chains in the hemoglobin 

 molecule, but also to the structural 

 relationships of the various chains to 

 each other. For instance. Bart's hemo- 

 globin, composed of four gamma 

 chains, is only half as alkali resistant 

 as hemoglobin F, which is a tetramer 

 of two alpha and two gamma chains. 

 The elucidation of the structure of 

 the gray whale's hemoglobin depends 

 on the full analysis of its amino 

 acid sequence. .Such an undertaking 

 can also be expected to provide some 

 evolutionary clues for the California 

 gray whale. 



From the evidence presented here, 

 it appears that this species possesses 

 only one type of structurally uniform 

 hemoglobin, although the possibility 



that we are dealing with two or more 

 hemoglobins of identical electropho- 

 retic mobility and alkali resistance 

 cannot be entirely excluded. 



The band of non-heme protein ap- 

 pears to be analogous to a similar 

 band which is consistently seen in 

 the electrophoretograms of human 

 bloods. In the latter, this is known to 

 represent carbonic anhydrase B. a red 

 cell constituent persistently extracted 

 with the toluene hemolysates. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Bicrman, A. H.. and A. Zettner. 1967. A 

 simple electrophoretic method for the 



quantitative determination of hemoglobin 

 A2. Am. J. e'lm. Palhol. 48: 1.19-146. 



Davidson. W. M.. and D. R. Smith. 19.S4. 

 A morphological sex difference in the 

 polymorphonuclear neutrophil Icukocvtes. 

 Brit. Med. J. ::6-7. 



Lenfanl, C 1969. Physiological properties 

 of hlood of marine mammals. In H. T. 

 Andersen (editor). The biology of marine 

 mammals, p. 95-1 16. Academic Press. N.Y. 



Nakamichi. M.. and S. Raymond. 196,1. 

 Acrvlamide-gel electrophoresis of hemo- 

 globins. Clin. Chem. 9: U.S. 145. 



Pmkerton, P. H., I. Spence, J. C. Ogilvie, 

 W. A. Ronald. P. Marchant, and P. K. 

 Ray. 1970. An assessment of the Coul- 

 ter counter model S. J. Clin. Palhol. 23: 

 68-76. 



Singer. K., A. I. Chernoff. and L. Singer. 

 1951. Studies on abnormal hemoglobins. 

 1. Their demonstration in sickle cell anemia 

 and other hematological disorders by 

 means of alkali denaturation. Blood J. 

 Hematol. 6:413-428. 



MFR Paper 1049. From Marine Fisheries Review, Vol. 

 36, No. 4. April 1974. Copies of this paper, in limited 

 numbers, are available from D83, Technical Information 

 Division. Environmental Science Information Center, 

 NOAA. Washington, DC 20235. 



MFR PAPER 1050 



Some Coagulation Factors in Plasma from a 

 California Gray Whale, Eschrichtius robustus 



W. MEDWAY 



ABSTRACT 



.4 cilniled pkisimi sample was assayed for some couiiuhnion faelors. The 

 levels ohiaineil were compared with those from some of ihe small tooilied 

 whales. Factor XII activity was verx low in the i^rav whale sample, whereas 

 toothed whales have none. 



INTRODUCTION 



Many people working with small 

 odontocete whales in captivity have 

 made the observation that whale 

 blood has a prolonged clotting time. 

 Since this observation was made two 

 reports have described the lack of 

 clotting Factor XII in blood in some 

 of the smaller whales (Lewis, Bayer, 



and Szeto, 1969: Robinson, kropat- 

 kin, and Aggeler, 1969). Another pub- 

 lication reports a prolonged clotting 

 time of blood from other small whales: 

 however, assays for Factor XII were 

 not made (Ridgway, 1972). There 

 were no reports of similar studies on 

 blood from any baleen whale: hence 

 this report on some studies on a plas- 

 ma sample from a captive California 

 gray whale. Eschrichtius rohiistiis. 



24 



