(lytes anwncaiius, were netted per tow (Northeast 

 Fisheries Center') with Atlantic cod, Gadus 

 morhua, and spiny dogfish, Squalus accinthias, the 

 only other abundant fish species. An examination 

 of several cod stomachs showed them to be packed 

 with sand lance while a similar inspection of sand 

 lance showed them to be feeding on copepods. It is 

 our contention that the abundance and behavior of 

 whales in this area indicates that they were feed- 

 ing on a concentration of American sand lance. 



Similar whale feeding behavior had been previ- 

 ously observed on 18 June 1976 with a humpback 

 whale located at lat. 42°09'N, long. 70°10'W, and 

 with a fin whale located at lat. 42°04'N, long. 

 70°20'W, and on 20 June 1976 with a humpback 

 whale located in the same general area ( Northeast 

 Fisheries Center'^). During these three observa- 

 tions many herring gulls were again seen feeding 

 at the surface and circling around the whales. 

 Large numbers of American sand lance were also 

 visually observed at the surface by NEFC person- 

 nel aboard the Alpine Geophysics RV Atlantic 

 Twin and in the water column again by NEFC 

 personnel aboard the General Oceanics research 

 submersible Nekton Gamma. These latter two 

 vessels were involved in testing the feasibility of 

 using a research submersible to survey marine 

 organisms (Northeast Fisheries Center-'). 



Bigelow and Schroeder 11953) reported that fin 

 whales were observed feeding on American sand 

 lance that were abundant in Cape Cod Bay in 

 1880. Nemoto (1959) listed American sand lance 

 as one of the food items of baleen whales of the 

 North Pacific, along with a variety of other fishes 

 and euphausids. Fin and humpback whales are 

 reported to feed on capelin, Mallotus villosus, a 

 fish similar to the American sand lance in size, 

 summer habitat, and schooling behavior in the 

 continental shelf waters off Nova Scotia and New- 

 foundland (Mitchell 1974a). Fin whales landed 

 at Blandford, Nova Scotia, from 1967 to 1972 con- 

 tained sand lance (May- August), and stomachs 

 from Newfoundland fin whales had >1% sand 

 lance (June-July) in 1970-1972 (Mitchell 1974b). 

 There is little stomach analysis data, though, from 

 baleen whales captured in New England waters in 



'Northeast Fi.sheries Center. 1977. Cruise Results. NOAA 

 R/V ALBATROSS IV. Cruise No, 77-02. Spnng Bottom Trawl 

 Survey: Part III. Woods Hole, Mass.. 6 p. 



^Northeast Fisheries Center. Gulf of Maine whale sighting 

 network reports Groundfish Survey Unit. Data on tile. Woods 

 Hole, Mass. 



^Northeast Fisheries Center. 1976. Cruise Results, R/V At- 

 lantic Twin, Cruise 76-01, Woods Hole, Mass., 8 p. 



the late 1880's when whaling was popular (True 

 1904), and no such data since the early 1900's 

 when, for all practical purposes, whaling had 

 ceased. Thus, it is difficult to confirm exactly what 

 fin and humpback whales in the Cape Cod region 

 eat. 



The feeding observations which we made imply 

 that the rorqual whales off New England, particu- 

 larly fin and humpback whales, may be utilizing 

 the high standing stock of American sand lance 

 that is currently available (Northeast Fisheries 

 Center''). Additionally noteworthy is that the At- 

 lantic herring, Clupea h. harengus, a commonly 

 mentioned rorqual whale food (Allen 1916; Inge- 

 brigtsen 1929; Bigelow and Schroeder 1953; 

 Nemoto 1959), is in low abundance at this time 

 (International Commission for the Northwest At- 

 lantic Fisheries 1976). 



I.itirature Cited 



AU.EN, G. M. 



1916. The whalebone whales of New England. Mem. 

 Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 8(2), 322 p. 



BiiiKLOw, H. B., .^ND W, C. Schroeder. 



1953. Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. U.S. Fish Wild! Serv.. 

 Fish, Bull, 53. 577 p, 

 GUNTHER, E, R. 



1949. The habits of tin whales. Discovery Rep. 25:115- 

 141. 

 INTERN.ATIONAI, COMMISSION FOR THE NORTHWEST ATLAN- 

 TIC FISHERIES. 



1976, Report of standing committee on research and 

 statistics iSTACRESi. Eighth special commission meet- 

 ing-January 1976. Appendix II, Report ofaf//ioc working 

 group on herring- Int, Comm, Northwest Atl, Fish,, 

 Redb, 1976:35-50, 

 INGEBRIGTSEN, A, 



1929. Whales caught in the North Atlantic and other 

 seas. Rapp, P,-V, Reun, Cons. Perm, Int, Explor, Mer 56, 

 26 p 



Katona, S., D, Richardson, and R, H.v.ard. 



1975. A field guide to the whales and seals of the Gulf of 

 Maine, Maine Coast Printers, Rockland. 97 p. 



Mitchell. E, 



1974a. Present status of Northwe.st Atlantic fin and other 

 whale stocks. In W. E. Schevill (editor). The whale prob- 

 lem, a status report, p, 108-169, Harv, Univ. Press, 

 Camb,. Mass. 



1974b, Trophic relationships and competition for food in 

 Northwest Atlantic whales. In M, B. U, Burt (editor), 

 Proceedings of the Canadian Society of Zoologists annual 

 meeting, June 2-5, p, 123-133, 



Nemoto, t, 



1959, Food of baleen whales with reference to whale 

 movements. Whales Res, In.st. Sci, Rep, 14:149-290, 



■•Northeast Fisheries Center, Spring groundfish survey re- 

 search cruises 1967-1977. Groundfish Survey Unit. Data on file, 

 Woods Hole, Mass. 



286 



