PARASITES AND DISEASES 213 



grounds comparable with those of the Antarctic. We know little of the habits in winter 

 of the majority of adult Blue and Fin whales which do not approach coastal waters and 

 whose stomachs cannot be examined, but since they are in comparatively poor condition 

 when they return to the southern feeding grounds we must suppose that they also find 

 little to eat in warmer waters. Of the food of Sei whales comparatively little is known 

 for certain. 



PARASITES AND DISEASES 



It will not be necessary here to review the whole subject of parasitism in whales, but the 

 occurrence of parasites is of some assistance to the investigation of whale migration. 

 The most familiar external parasites of whales are the barnacles, the Copepod, Pennella, 

 the sea-lice (Amphipoda), and the diatoms. Right whales and Humpbacks are par- 

 ticularly subject to barnacles and lice, but the diatom film probably infects all the 

 cetaceans which frequent Antarctic waters. 



The following is a list of external parasites commonly found on whalebone whales in 

 the south : 



Cirripedia (barnacles) Paracyamus erraticus 



Conchoderma auritum %• boopis 



C. virgatum R Z ractlls 



Coronula diadema Protozoa 

 C. reginae 



Xenobalanus globicipitis Haematophagus megapterae 



„ DlATOMACEA 



COPEPODA , . , , . 



„ „ , , . Lycmophora lyngbyei 



Pennella balaenopterae Cocconeis ceticola 



Balaenophilus umsetus c {mperatrix 



C. gautien 

 Amphipoda C. wheeleri 



Cyamus ovalis Navicula spp. 



C. balaenopterae Gyrosigma (Rhoicosigma) arcticum 



Two papers by Nilssen-Cantell (1930, 1939) may be consulted for further information 

 on the parasitic Cirripedes. He mentions Conchoderma auritum from Blue, Fin and 

 Humpback whales, usually attached to the shells of Coronula or to the baleen plates. 

 Conchoderma virgatum is recorded as attached to Pennella but is known from a variety 

 of hosts besides whales. Coronula diadema has been found on Humpbacks and Blue 

 whales, and C. reginae on Humpback, Blue and Fin whales. Xenobalanus is noted on 

 Blue, Fin and Sei whales. These Cirripedes are not the cause of the typical pits and scars 

 seen in various stages of healing on Balaenopterids in southern seas. Coronula, for 

 example, leaves only a purely superficial impression (see Mackintosh and Wheeler, 1929, 



plate xxxvii). 



Pennella is a well-known parasite of Blue, Fin and Sei whales, but it is doubtful 

 whether it occurs on Humpbacks. Although it is rooted deeply in the blubber the whales 

 appear to have the faculty of casting it off by some healing process, for specimens have 

 been found on the point of ejection. As Rayner (1940, p. 248) points out, there is little 



