WHALES 



Figure ^6'. Left: nunith of lamprey, showing teeth. {East, ig^g) Right : fish with lamprey 



attached to its skin. 



that many of the round scars coincided precisely with the shape of the 

 mouths of a species of lamprey common in the North Pacific {Entosphenus 

 Iridentatus) . Moreover, Pike managed to see the actual impression of 

 lamprey teeth on more than one occasion. His findings were confirmed 

 by Nemoto, and later also by van Utrecht. Lampreys are very strange eel- 

 shaped creatures which fasten to other aquatic animals with their round 

 mouths. In fact, the same sort of scar has been found on many fishes also. 

 It would appear that round or oval scars occur whenever the lamprey 

 attaches itself to the whale with its entire mouth, crescent-shaped scars 

 whenever it uses part of its mouth only, and longitudinal scars whenever 

 it shifts from its original position. Aioreover, contractions of the whale's 

 skin may very well cause the wounds to open out into longitudinal slits, 

 as happens with human scars also, which are often fan-shaped. 



Still, this is by no means positive proof of the lamprey being the real 

 culprit. A judge would dismiss the evidence as uncorroborated, and call 

 for eye-witnesses. Fortunately, we can comply, for, as early as 191 3, the 

 Norwegian biologist, Olsen, reported that whalers attached to a West 

 African land station had found eel-shaped animals dangling from a 

 freshly-killed whale. Their description leaves no doubt that these animals 

 must have been lampreys. Pike, too, reported similar eye-witness accounts 

 from the North Pacific. Apparently, the lampreys let go of their host 

 soon after he is killed, or whenever he moves to colder waters, even 

 though lampreys themselves are not restricted to temperate or tropical 

 seas. Possibly they dislike the faster speed which whales develop on their 

 migratory journeys, but this will have to l^e investigated further. In any 

 case, lampreys do not necessarily have to bear the entire blame, and it is 

 possible that other 'guests' are responsible also. 



Apart from lampreys, the skin of whales and dolphins is often studded 

 with other animals which, for convenience, we shall lump together under 

 the general heading of 'parasites', although many of them do not batten 



