550 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Globicephala macrorhyncha (Gray). Short-finned 

 Blackfish or Pilot Whale 



Blackfish are large, black oceanic porpoises 

 which feed largely on squids and fishes. They 

 travel in large schools. The globular head, 

 especially of the males, is a distinguishing char- 

 acter. They attain a length of 20 feet. Lowery 

 (1943) made photographs and measured several 

 specimens of a school of 49 which were found 

 stranded oo the beach near Bayou Lafourche, 

 Louisiana, following the hurricane of August 1940. 

 Gunter (1946) recorded four specimens from the 

 Texas coast and two probable records, all from 

 strandings. Since then, three other strandings 

 have come to attention, and another skull was 

 obtained. These were all from Mustang and 

 Padre Islands, one coming from Brazos Santiago 

 at the southern tip of Texas. One small school 

 was seen near the beach of Mustang Island in 

 October 1949. Lowery recorded this porpoise 

 under the name of G. ventricosa (Lacepede), the 

 North Atlantic species, and the writer followed 

 his conservatism. All specimens the writer has 

 seen have the short fin described by Cope, and it 

 has been concluded that his brachyptera is definitive 

 for the Atlantic and Gulf species of the southern 

 United States. It is, however, only a synonym 

 of Globicephala macrorhyncha (Gray) as recently 

 shown by Fraser (1950). This animal is found 

 over the tropical Atlantic. 



The blackfish is noted for following the leader 

 into the beach and stranding, thus the name pilot 

 whale, and for making bellowing, grunting noises 

 at these times. Moore says strandings of this 

 species exceed all others put together in Florida, 

 and he has recorded instances of 46 and 200 

 animals stranding at one time. 



Other DELPHINIDAE 



The following species are not recorded from the 

 Gulf of Mexico but may be expected: 



The common dolphin, Delphinus delphis Lin- 

 naeus, is known from most tropic and temperate 

 seas. It usually is found more than 10 miles 

 offshore but has been known to invade rivers. 

 The closest known record is Miami, Florida 

 (Moore, op. cit.). The same writer lists Stenella 

 frontalis (Cuvier) from Dade County and S. 

 longirostris (Gray) from the Bahamas. These 

 tropic and Southern Hemisphere dolphins may 

 enter the Gulf. The false killer, Psevdorca 



crassidens (Owen), has been recorded from 

 Broward County on the southeast Florida coast. 

 The grampus, Garnphidelphis griseus Cuvier, may 

 be expected because of its general distribution. 



Suborder Mysticeti. Baleen Whales 

 Family BALAENOPTERIDAE. Finbacks, Rorquals 

 Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus). Common Finback 



Lowery (1943) listed three records of Bal- 

 aenoptera sp. stranding on the Louisiana coast. 

 There have been strandings of baleen whales on 

 the Texas coast, but these animals have not been 

 definitely identified or recorded, with one ex- 

 ception. On February 21, 1951, a small whale, 18 

 feet long, was found on the beach 22 miles east of 

 Galveston. It was the common finback and was 

 evidently very young and probably newborn. 

 An account has been given by Breuer (1951). 

 This is the only definite record from the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



Balaenoptera acutorostrata Lac6p£de. Piked Whale 



One specimen washed ashore on the Gulf beach 

 of Wakulla County, Florida, in 1940. The remains 

 of the skeleton were examined by Moore (op. cit.). 

 There are several records from New England, but 

 this whale is probably rare in southern seas. 



Other Baleen Whales 



The above two species are the only baleen 

 whales definitely recorded from the Gulf of 

 Mexico. The Sei whale, Balaenoptera borealis 

 Lesson, and the humpback, Megaptera novae- 

 angliae (Borowski) , may be expected. Townsend's 

 (1935) whaling records showed that the humpback 

 was taken north of Haiti and in the Lesser 

 Antilles and within 70 miles of the Florida Keys. 

 The blue whale or sulphur bottom, Sibbaldus 

 musculus (Linnaeus), may also be expected in the 

 Gulf. This species is known to attain a length of 

 103 feet and is the largest animal that ever lived. 

 Baughman (Jour. Mammal., vol. 46, pp. 392-393, 

 1946) gave a record of a baleen whale 70 feet long 

 which stranded north of Freeport in 1940. From 

 photographs he concluded it was Sibbaldus 

 musculus, but there is no confirmation. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Allen, G. M. 



1942. Extinct and vanishing mammals of the Western 

 Hemisphere with the marine species of all the oceans. 

 Spec. Pub. No. 11, Am. Comm. Internat. Wild Life 

 Protection, pp. 1-620. 



