THE RE-ENTRANTS 321 



Identification: The beak is fairly long and separated from the low forehead 

 by a groove. The back is almost black, and there are light markings of yellow and 

 white on the sides. 



Habits: It is like the common dolphin but is shier. This is the dolphin 

 frequently seen at sea gamboling about ships' bows. 



Similar Species: The little common porpoise (harbor porpoise), Phocaena 

 fhocaena Qfig. 196^, is a little, chiefly north temperate, coastwise species that 

 reaches only about 6 feet and 120 pounds. It has no prolonged snout and is 

 dark gray above and white below. It is very rare in the eastern United States 

 being occasionallv seen in Maine. It has been reported south to New Jersey in the 

 Atlantic. More common on the Pacific coast, it also ranges farther south. 



KILLER WHALE (grampus) : Orcinus orca 



Size: Males to 30 feet. Females one-half that size. The largest of the dolphins 

 and porpoises. 



Distribution: All seas, but most common in cold waters. 



Identification: The verv high, black dorsal fin is the best field character. The 

 mouth is large and bears very heavy cutting teeth. The snout is rounded and not 

 produced to form a beak. There are white marks above the eyes and the white 

 of the belly extends up onto the sides. 



Habits: The intelligence, speed, voracity, size, and power of these animals 

 make them without doubt the most dangerous of all the sea's inhabitants. 

 Luckily, they are not really common. They travel in small bands of two to three 

 or even up to forty individuals and attack their prey cooperatively. The killer 

 whale's favorite food is seal. Porpoises and the largest whales are also eaten. Its 

 prey evidently must be moving to attract it. Sea otters are known to freeze in 

 their presence to avoid detection. The high swordlike dorsal fin once gave them 

 the name "swordfish " among some seafaring men. This name is now only used 

 to mean certain fish, but old seamen's accounts of swordfish attacking baleen 

 whales meant killer whales attacking baleen whales. The manner of hunting 

 seals shows great cunning. Seals commonly bask on ice floes. The killer, spotting 

 such a seal, will overturn the floe with its back and swallow the dislodged seal. 

 Baby walruses, taking refuge on the backs of their mothers are also jarred loose 

 and eaten. The remains of up to fourteen seals have been found in a single 

 large killer's stomach. Killers have been known to break floes under men. One 

 photographer, a member of the British antarctic Terra Nova Expedition barely 

 escaped with his life as a floe was shattered by killers just as he ran to safety. 

 The attacks on whales are even more spectacular and cunning. Several killers 

 will hold the flippers of a large baleen whale while others tear juicy hunks out 

 of the tender lips and tongue. This frequently kills the large whale. It is said 

 that California gray whales become literally petrified in the killers' presence, 

 lying on their backs, tongues out, awaiting their fate. Some reports also sav 

 that killers are able to use the high dorsal fin as a weapon. The authors do not 

 know about the truth of this statement. It is hard to say what a diver should do 

 in the presence of a band of killers. Freezing motionless, an action that would 

 probably be involuntary anyway, might be attempted— after you have taken a 

 picture, of course. 



