RORQUALS OR FIN WHALES 223 



tail of all Blue and Fin Whales. The pits are about 3 inches 

 long, 2 inches wide, and an inch or so deep and are sunk in the 

 blubber ; they commonly appear as open sores in whales taken 

 in warm water, whereas in those caught in cold water only the 

 healed scars can be detected. The exact origin of the wounds 

 is not certainly known ; lamprey-like fish, the parasitic 

 Crustacea already mentioned, and micro-organisms have been 

 suggested as the cause, but as a source of the damage none 

 of these seems to be entirely convincing. 



The Blue Whale, for all its great size, is not by any means 

 an aggressive animal ; indeed, if anything, it is of a timid 

 disposition. Bennett, describing the hunting of this species 

 in ' Whaling in the Antarctic ', says : "It has always to be 

 remembered that quite small noises scare them. A man 

 shouting while the whale is on the surface with its nostrils 

 open is enough to cause it to bolt. When this happens it is 

 seldom worth while to give chase, for no boat has the slightest 

 chance of overtaking a thoroughly scared whale, which can 

 move at such a pace that it is out of sight in a few minutes." 



The economic importance of this species will be dealt with, 

 along with that of the other Rorquals, later in this chapter. 



THE FINNER WHALE OR COMMON RORQUAL 

 {Balanoptera phy sains). Fig. 63. 



The Common Rorqual has been referred to as the greyhound 

 of the ocean because of its slender build and great speed of 

 swimming. It is smaller than the Blue Whale, and while it 

 retains, of course, the external features common to all Rorquals, 

 it is distinguished by several well-defined characters. The 

 fore part of the head, when viewed from above, is wedge-shaped, 

 not having the sides nearly parallel. Towards the tail the 

 back is distinctly and acutely ridged, and for this reason the 

 name " Razorback " has aptly been applied. The dorsal fin is 

 quite high and triangular, usually with a concave posterior 

 border, and the flippers are small, measuring about one-ninth 

 of the total length. 



The body colour, especially its asymmetry in the head 

 region, immediately separates this species from the other 

 Rorquals The general colour is light grey above and pure 



