SOME INTERESTING HABITS 



humpbacks but there is no doubt that the animals 

 can stay under a much longer time, if necessary. 



A blue whale which we struck off the Japanese 

 coast sounded for thirty-two minutes. In the north of 

 Japan there was a whale of the same species which 

 had had its dorsal fin shot away by a harpoon and 

 had become extremely w r ild. The animal could be 

 easily recognized by the large white scar on its back, 

 and for three successive years was hunted by various 

 ships of the whaling fleet. He was said to stay be- 

 low half an hour each time and only spout once or 

 twice between dives. One day, when seventy miles 

 at sea, the ship I was on raised his spout, but after 

 the whale went down we lost him. We were close 

 enough to see the white harpoon scar as he sounded 

 but I did not have a further opportunity to witness 

 his reported eccentricities. 



At Ulsan, Korea, Captain Melsom killed a blue 

 whale which stayed below fifty minutes, spouted 

 twenty times, and then went down for forty minutes. 

 The longest period of submergence which I recorded 

 for a finback was twenty-three minutes. There are 

 many tales of the great length of time which the 

 small-toothed whale, called the "bottlenose" (Hype- 

 roodon rostratum), will remain under water but I have 

 had no personal experience with this species. It is 

 said that when a bottlenose has been harpooned it 

 not infrequently sounds to a great depth and stays 

 below for over an hour. 



Many whalemen believe that cetaceans can remain 

 under water for a long time without coming up to 



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