232 WHALES AND DOLPHINS 



triangular in shape when viewed from above. The flipper 

 measures an eighth of the body length and the dorsal fin is 

 prominent and high, with a recurved posterior border. About 

 50 ventral grooves are found in the throat region in this species 

 and, as in the Sei, extend only to about halfway between 

 the end of the flipper (laid along the body) and the navel. 

 Upwards of 300 blades make up a " side " of baleen, and all 

 the blades, as well as their fringes, are entirely yellowish-white 

 in colour ; the maximum length of the baleen is a little less 

 than a foot. The colour of the baleen serves at once to 

 distinguish the Lesser Rorqual from all the others. Another 

 and unfailing characteristic of the Lesser Rorqual is the white 

 patch on the outer surface of the flipper and, unlike so many 

 points used to distinguish various species of Cetacea, it is one 

 which can be noted in the living animal without any difficulty. 



The general body colour is blue-grey on the back, but 

 underneath, from the chin to the tail flukes, the body is pure 

 white. The under surface of the flukes is also white. 



This species when adult is about 30 feet long, the largest 

 stranded British specimen recorded being 33 feet. Little is 

 known of its breeding habits, but it is believed that the period 

 of gestation is about ten months as in other Rorquals, and that 

 the calves at birth measure 9 feet and are born in November, 

 December or January. 



The food of this species includes the smaller plankton 

 animals and fish. A Lesser Rorqual stranded on the Dutch 

 coast had bones of herrings in its throat, and Allen in ' Whale- 

 bone Whales of New England ' states that it undoubtedly 

 feeds largely on this fish. Cod, Capelin and even Dogfish 

 constitute part of its diet. 



Not much is known about the migrations of Lesser Rorquals, 

 but as they occur more abundantly at certain times of the 

 year than at others, it is presumed that such movements do 

 take place On the Norwegian coast, says Allen, " it is called 

 the Summer Whale since it appears more frequently at that 

 season". Round the British coast, on which it often gets 

 stranded, the Lesser Rorqual is far commoner in the second 

 half of the year, chiefly in August and September. Its range is 

 wide, including as it does all the great oceans of the world. 

 It occurs abundantly along the Norwegian coast, and in the 



