FOOD 2I1 



» 



continent, and may possibly replace the krill in such regions. It does not appear to have 

 been identified in the stomachs of whales, but might well form the food of any that 

 penetrate to its habitat. Minke whales are commonly found in the southern part of the 

 Ross Sea, but it is doubtful whether more than a small fraction of the Blue and Fin 

 whale populations approach the continental coastal regions. 



Table 6. Food other than krill found in the stomachs of 

 whales in the Antarctic 



There can, in any case, be little doubt of the general rule that whales in the Antarctic 

 in summer feed heavily and almost continuously on the krill, and that for all practical 

 purposes the krill may be regarded as an exclusive diet. Such whales as remain in 

 high latitudes throughout the winter (see pp. 238 and 250) probably continue to feed 

 on krill, but since no whaling is now done in winter we have no positive data on that 

 point. 



The northward migration takes most whales in winter far beyond the northern limit 

 olEuphausia snperba, and it has been shown (Mackintosh and Wheeler, 1929, pp. 361-4) 

 that little or no food is present in the stomachs of whales caught in winter at Saldanha 

 Bay (Cape Province). Over 50 % of the stomachs of Blue and Fin whales examined 

 were empty, and nearly all the rest contained no more than small quantities of various 

 species of Euphausiidae. Very few Humpbacks and Sei whales were inspected at 

 Saldanha Bay, but Matthews (1937, p. 43, and 1938c, p. 234) shows that of four Hump- 

 backs two had empty stomachs and two had fed on fish, and that of nine Sei whales 

 seven had empty stomachs and two had a small quantity of crustacean remains. Of the 

 whales examined at Durban in 1930, 96 % of the stomachs were empty. Table 7 is an 



