EUPHAUSIACEA 209 



' Norvegia ' says, " The present species was on the whole the only Euphausiid present in 

 the contents of the stomachs. The contents from the Crab-eater seals {Lobodon 

 carcinopliagus) in both cases weighed about 2 kg. and consisted almost entirely of 

 Euphausiids. The contents from the Sea-leopard (Stenorhynchus leptonyx) weighed 

 about 5 kg., but here the Euphausiids bear but a small proportion to the rest of the 

 contents". 



Clark (1919), in describing the biological observations of the Endurance Expedition, 

 writes as follows: 



. . .During the winter spent at Elephant Island, our total catch of gentoo penguins amounted to 

 1436 for the period April 15 to August 30, 19 16. All these birds were cut up, the livers and hearts 

 were extracted for food, and the skins were used as fuel. At the same time the stomachs were in- 

 variably examined, and a record kept of the contents. The largest proportion of these contained the 

 small crustacean Euphausia, and this generally to the exclusion of other forms. Occasionally, however, 

 small fish were recorded. The quantity of Euphausiae present in most of the stomachs was enormous 

 for the size of the birds.. . .Euphausiae, then, seem to be present in sufficient quantity in certain, if 

 not in all, sub-Antarctic waters during the southern winter.. . . 



Different expeditions have found it in a number of bird stomachs, and the South 

 Georgian whalers are familiar with the enormous congregations of Nototheniid fish 

 which collect to feed upon the swarms of this Euphausian on the whaling grounds. But 

 of particular importance — economic importance — is the fact established by Mackintosh 

 and Wheeler (1929) that this species, Euphausia superba, forms practically the sole food 

 of the great rorquals — the Blue and Fin whales — in this area. Racovitza (1903) had 

 already drawn attention to its importance as the food of the Humpback whale. Mackin- 

 tosh and Wheeler examined the stomach contents of 519 Blue and Fin whales at the 

 whaling station at Grytviken, South Georgia, and found all but 68 to contain food and 

 usually in large quantities. This food consisted entirely of E. superba. They write as 

 follows : 



. . . The whales caught at South Georgia (excluding the Sperm whale) feed exclusively on Euphausia 

 superba (Fig. 100) and have no other food whatever in their stomachs apart from a few specimens of the 

 Amphipod Euihemisto, which is so abundant in the plankton round South Georgia that the whales 

 can hardly help swallowing a certain quantity. . . .The enormous abundance of the krill round South 

 Georgia is revealed by an examination of the stomach contents of the whales caught there. Normally 

 the stomach was found to be well filled with comparatively fresh Euphausiids and an empty stomach 

 was at most times an uncommon occurrence. 



Clark (191 9) had previously examined Fin, Blue and Humpback whales at South 

 Georgia and found that they all (number not stated) contained Euphausia with a mixture 

 of Amphipods. 



Ruud (1932) brings confirmation of these observations from the results of his stomach 

 investigations on board the floating factory ship ' Vikingen ' working in an area between 

 Bouvet Island and the South Orkneys. He writes: 



In the season 1929-30 the whaling boats of the S.S. ' Vikingen ' caught 865 whales. Of the animals 

 we were able to examine (about 300), only a couple had empty stomachs, and these were young 

 whales with traces of milk in the stomach and intestine. All the others had krill in their stomachs, 



