HAHPOCN GUN 



CHAPTER X: RORQUALS OR FIN WHALES. 



Characters of Rorquals. Blue Whale or Sibbald's Rorqual. 

 Finner Whale or Common Rorqual. Sei Whale or Rudolphi's 

 Rorqual. Piked Whale or Lesser Rorqual. Bryde's Whale. 

 The Rorqual Fishery. 



Family Bac\enopterid,e. 



The group of whales known as Rorquals or Fin Whales is 

 an interesting ohe, not only because of its commercial impor- 

 tance at the present time, but also on account of the colossal 

 size attained by certain of the species. The most obvious 

 distinction between the Rorquals and the Right Whales 

 discussed in the previous chapter is that the former have a 

 triangular fin on the back towards the tail, and are furnished 

 with a series of parallel grooves running longitudinally on the 

 under surface of the throat and chest region. The name 

 Rorqual, it is said, means " the whale having folds or pleats ". 

 Many other characters separate the two groups, of which the 

 most noteworthy are (i) the much shorter, coarser and less 

 flexible whalebone in the Rorquals, (2) the more flattened and 

 shortened head, and (3) the possession of flippers which are 

 long and tapering, not bluntly rounded as in the Right Whales. 

 An internal feature which distinguishes the Rorquals is the 

 unfused condition of the 7 neck vertebrae ; it will be 

 remembered that in Balcena these were welded together into 

 a single compact unit. 



There are four well-established species of Rorqual : the Blue 



