where they most commonly occur in offshore areas. They 

 have been reported from Davis Straits and the entrance to 

 Hudson Strait, the Gully southeast of Sable Island, and as far 

 south as Narragansett Bay, R.I. 



In the spring and summer they concentrate near the 

 northern limits of their range, occasionally visiting deep 

 channels of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and eastern 

 Newfoundland in summer. During these seasons they may 

 extend to the edge of the pack ice. 



In the fall and winter the bulk of the population migrates 

 .southward. Many probably winter in the Labrador Sea while 

 others move farther southward and farther offshore. 



Stranded Specimens 



Like the beaked whales discussed on p. 70 through 83, 

 the northern bottlenosed whales have no notch in the tail 

 flukes, have two throat grooves forming a V-shape on the 

 chin, and have only two teeth in the lower jaw, with those 

 teeth emerged from the gums only in adult males. These 

 teeth may have sometimes fallen out of older males, but the 

 tooth sockets should still be visible in the gums. 



Figure 69. -Northern bottlenosed whales occasionally raise their tafl f*° " 

 nukes when beginning a dive. At close range, these flukes can oKen be 

 seen to lack a distinctive notch on the rear margin . {Photo from off Nova 

 Scotia by J. Ham. ) 



NOTE: Some specimens— both male and female— will be 

 found to have a series of vestigial teeth the size of toothpicks 

 in the upper and/or lower jaws. Similar vestigial teeth, .5-40 

 in number, sometimes occur in goosebeaked whales (p. 70). 

 Further when they are prepared for museum collections, the 

 lower jaws of adult northern bottlenosed whales may be 

 found to contain a second pair of teeth just behind the first. 



Northern bottlenosed whales may be distinguished from 

 the remainder of the beaked whale family, however, by the 

 extremely robust body, by the bulbous forehead, which is 

 more extensively developed in larger animals, particularly 

 males, and by the pronounced dolphinlike beak. 



Figure 70.- A stranded northern bottlenosed whale from Holland. Note the bulbous forehead, the long dolphinlike beak and the frequent absences of . 

 notch in the rear margin of the tail flukes. (Photo by J. P Strijbos. courtesy of Rijks Musum van Natuurlyke Hutone te Leuien. ) 



69 



