342 WHALES 



in the Antarctic, probably because they migrated farther south than they 

 usually do. Apparently not all Sei \Vhales participate in this migration, 

 because Dawbin observed that schools of Sei Whales can be observed 

 throughout the year between 35°-37° S. and 174°-! 76° E. Off the Nor- 

 wegian coast (where Sei Whales generally occur together with coalfish, 

 which the Norwegians call seje - hence the whale's name) they manage 

 to reach higher latitudes because the Gulf Stream increases the tempera- 

 ture of the water, but even here they keep outside the Arctic proper. \'ery 

 little is known of the Sei Whale's actual migratory route, except that it 

 seems to avoid the North Sea, so much so that only one individual was 

 ever found stranded on the Dutch coast (the former Zuider Zee - 181 1). 



Bryde's Whale which, until quite recently, was invariably confused 

 with the Sei Whale, probably has a larger distribution in waters between 

 30° N. and 30° S. than investigations so far have definitely established. It 

 has been caught and observed off the East African and the West African 

 coast, south of 30° N., in the Bay of Bengal, in the Strait of Malacca, off 

 the West coast of Borneo, ofT the Bonin Islands, ofT South California, 

 once off Grenada and once (12th July, 1959) off Curasao (both West 

 Indies), and also off Australia, where three specimens were caught in 

 Shark Bay (October 1958). Migrations north or south have never been 

 established. 



Little Piked Whales and Biscayan Right Whales have a very similar 

 geographical distribution to Blue and Fin Whales. Both occur in all seas, 

 and both migrate to warmer waters in the autumn and back to colder 

 waters in the spring, but the Little Piked Whale penetrates much farther 

 into the ice than the Biscayan Right Whale. In fact, these miniature 

 Rorquals are believed to venture farther into the polar drifting ice than 

 any other Balaenopterids (see Figs. 223 and 224). However, the behaviour 

 of Little Piked Whales and Biscayan Right Whales differs from that of 

 Blue and Fin Whales, in that the former apparently avoid very warm 

 waters, say, between 25° N. and 25° S., where their presence is extremely 

 rare, though a few Little Piked Whales have been reported stranded in 

 Ceylon, Manila and other areas within these latitudes. In spring. Little 

 Piked Whales travel along the Norwegian coast as far as the Barents Sea, 

 but newly weaned calves are left behind in Norwegian waters. 



We owe most of our knowledge about the distribution and migration 

 of Sperm Whales to C. H. Townsend, who collated data on 36,908 Sperm 

 Whales, caught by American whalers between 1761 and 1920, from log 

 books kept in New Bedford Library. As a result of his investigations, 

 modern whaling statistics, and a number of other observations, we can say 

 that the Sperm Whale, too, is a cosmopolitan, though harem-type schools 

 of females and young bulls led by an old steer (see Chapter 6) rarely 



