273 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Balaenidae (Right whales) 

 Southern Right ... ... ... ... Balaena australis 



Odontocoeti (Toothed whales) 

 Physeteridae 

 Sperm ... ... ... ... ... Physeter catodon 



Several other species not included in the above list have been taken from time to 

 time in the Dependencies, but their value is negligible from the point of view of the 

 whaling industry. Among these are the Bottlenose (Hyperoodoii) , the Killer or Grampus 

 {Orcimis orcd), the Lesser Rorqual {Balaenoptera acutorostrato) and the Ca'aing whale 

 {Globicephala melaena). The Killer, though of little value, may be said to have some 

 economic importance owing to its habit of occasionally attacking the larger whales and 

 their calves. 



At South African stations one other species is frequently taken, namely Bryde's 

 whale {Balaenoptera brydei). This whale is not very well known, but it resembles the 

 Sei whale and has been described by Olsen (1913, 1914/15 and 1926). Unfortunately 

 none was brought in to the station at Saldanha Bay during our work there. 



A general account of the bodily proportions and external and specific characters of 

 Blue and Fin whales can best be given separately under each species. 



BLUE WHALES 

 GENERAL REMARKS 



This species together with the Fin whale constitutes over 90 per cent of the catches 

 of most southern whaling stations. The two are caught nearly everywhere in roughly 

 equal numbers, but the value of the Blue whale is greater owing not only to its greater 

 size, but also to the fact that even allowing for its size, the yield of oil is slightly greater. 

 The average yield of oil from a Blue whale is 70 to 80 barrels, but as many as 305 

 barrels were once obtained from a Blue whale at Walvis Bay, West Africa (see Risting, 

 1928, p. 41). A higher bonus is paid to the whalers for the capture of a Blue whale 

 than for any other species, so that when more than one species is open to attack it is 

 usually the Blue whale which suffers. 



This species is widely distributed in temperate and arctic and antarctic waters, and 

 it has been hunted more or less regularly since the invention of the harpoon gun, 

 though during the period when the Humpback formed the main prey of the whalers, 

 the largest specimens were sometimes avoided owing to the comparative lightness of 

 the gear then used. At South Georgia it was caught in comparatively small numbers 

 from 1904, when the industry started there, until about 1913 when the Humpback 

 fishery began to decline. With some fluctuations a great increase in the catches of 

 Blue whales took place during and after the war, and in the recent 1926-7 season 

 greater numbers of this species were taken than ever before. 



