128 MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WORLD 



The Pygmy Right Whale {Neohalcena) is about twenty feet 

 long, the head being about one-fourth of the total length. The 

 color of the whalebone is pale yellow margined with black, while 

 that of other right whales is usually black. The pygmy right 

 whale is found in New Zealand and Australian waters and off 

 South America. 



The Gray Whale (Rhachianectes) , like the several foregoing 

 species, lacks the dorsal fin, but the back shows a number of 

 wave-like bumps, especially toward the tail. The head is small — 

 less than one-fourth of the total length. The throat has two 

 longitudinal folds, about six feet in extent, and the body is more 

 slender than that of the right whales. The whalebone plates are 

 only about fifteen inches in length. Adults are thirty-five to 

 forty feet long. The gray whale, found chiefly near the coast, 

 was once common along the Pacific coast of North America and 

 in the Sea of Japan, but whaling has almost exterminated the 

 species. 



The Humpback Whale (Megaptera) frequents the coasts 

 and bays of all the great oceans. Adults generally reach a 

 length of about fifty feet. The body is thickset and clumsy in 

 build. The fins are very long, about fourteen feet from base 

 to tip in adults, and the front margin is irregularly wavy. The 

 throat has a number of longitudinal folds, like those of the re- 

 lated finbacks. The humpback's blow or spout (the mixture of 

 air and water spouted from the blowholes) is short and broad, 

 rising almost vertically. The humpback is one of the few good- 

 sized whales that can jump clear out of the water. Like most 

 whalebone whales it feeds on small shrimps but eats a few fish 

 as well. 



Finback Whales or Rorquals (Balcenoptera, Sibbaldus) in- 

 clude the largest of all known animals, the blue whale or sulphur- 

 bottom. This species {Sibbaldus musculus) reaches a length of 

 slightly over one hundred feet and a weight of more than one 

 hundred tons. Its spout is more than fifteen feet high, and like 

 that of most whalebone whales is almost vertical. Other kinds 



