18 A HISTORY OF THE WHALE FISHERIES 



This species is relatively abundant in British seas, 

 fifty-nine being captured in Scottish waters in the 

 eleven years 1904-14. In 1863 a young female 

 humpbacked whale was stranded on a sandbank 

 in the Mersey opposite Speke (not in the Dee, as 

 stated by Lydekker). This species probably derives 

 its name from the low hump-like character of the 

 dorsal fin. 



The Rorquals, Fin-whales, Fin-backs, Finners 

 or Razorbacks are species of the genus Balsenoptera. 

 They form the mainstay of the whale fisheries in 

 British waters, where four species occur. 



Rorquals are of extremely wide distribution, 

 being found in all seas except in extreme Arctic and 

 Antarctic regions. The name Rorqual is derived 

 from the Norse Rorq-val, signifying a whale with 

 pleats or folds in the skin. Compared with the 

 Humpback, the Rorquals are long and slender, the 

 furrows of the throat are more numerous and closer 

 set, the pectoral fin is comparatively small, and the 

 tail much compressed before it is expanded into 

 flukes. 



Owing to their great activity these whales were 

 not much pursued until the introduction of the small 

 modern steam whalers with gun and explosive 

 harpoon. 



Of the four British species the smaller or lesser 

 Fin-whale or Rorqual (Balcenoptera rostrata) rarely 

 exceeds thirty feet, and is exempt on that account 

 from the attention of the whalers. 



Of the other three, the Blue Whale (Sibbald's 



