304 



Gray whales feed during the summer in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, prin- 

 ciiMilly in hirge areas of shallow water with an abmidant benthos. Their food 

 is primarily benthic amphipods, mostly Anipelisca macroccphala, in addition to 

 a number of benthic isopods, mysids, mollusks, polychaetes, and hydroids {Ij'i, 

 15). While migrating between their northern summer grounds and their winter 

 calving grounds off Baja California and during their stay on the wintering 

 grounds they eat virtually no food (11). Body weight greatly decreases during 

 the migration, resulting in a great use of stored body fat. Because they fast 

 during migration, gray whales undergo considerable physiological stress, whic^ 

 is accentuatetl in lactating cows, whose calves suckle for about 6 months. 



All of the sperm whales sampled contained DDT and metabolites in concen- 

 trations ranging from 0.010 to 6.0 ppm (Table 2). All had DDT or its metabolites 

 in each of the three kinds of tissue examined. Concentrations ranged up to 0.12 

 ppm in brain tissue, 6.0 ppm in blubber, and O.STi ppm in liver. Dieldrin was 

 found in two samples of blubber taken in May 1968 but was absent in all 

 samples from November 1968. 



Sperm whales are in all the world oceans; they feed mainly on squid (mostly 

 the larger species, such as Moroteuthis robustus off California), octopuses, and 

 deepwater fishes, suCh as sharks, skates, hake, and to a lesser extent, rockfish. 



In gray whales and sperm whales the concentrations of pesticides were highest 

 in the blubber. Since a relatively high proportion of the body weight of whales 

 is in the form of blubber, the animals may contain high total amounts of pesti- 

 cides. For instance, the estimated weight of gray w'hale No. 1969'-35 is 14,300 kg. 

 and possible blubber proportion is 29% (16), or 4,147 kg. At a concentration of 

 0.36 ppm DDE in its blubber (Table 1), the whale might carry about 1.5 g of 

 DDE in this tissue. 



LITERATUEE CITE3> 



(1) Anas, R. E. and A. J. Wilson, Jr. 191/0. Organochlorine pesticides in fur 

 seals. Pesticides Monit. J. 3(4) :198-200. 



(2) Anderson, D. W., J. J. Hiokey, R. W. Risebrough, D. F. Hughes, and 

 R. E. Christensen. 1969. Significance of chlorinated hydrocarbon residues to 

 breeding pelicans cormorants. Can. Field-Natur. 83(2) :91-112. 



(3) Gakstatter, J. H. 1967. The uptake from water by several species of fresh- 

 water fish of p,p'-DDT, dieldrin, and lindane ; their tissue distribution and elimi- 

 nation rate. Diss. Abstr. B27, 11, 3820. 



(4) George, J. L. and D. E. H. Frear. 1966. Pesticides in the Antarctic. J. 

 Appl. Ecol. 3 (Suppl) :155-167. 



(5) Greenwood, R. J., Y. A. Grieehus, and E. J. Hugghins. 1967. Insecticide 

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(6) Hifkey, J. J. (editor). 1969. Peregrine falcon populations, their biology, 

 and decline. Univ. Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wi.s., 596 p. 



(7) Holden, A. V. and K. Marsden. 1967. Organochlorine pesticides in seals and 

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(8) Koeman, J. H. and H. van Gendcren. 1966. Some preliminary notes on 

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 Netherlands. J. Appl. Ecol. 3 ( Suppl. ) :99. 



(.9) Mills, Paul A., J. H. Onley, and R. A. Gaither. 1963. Rapid method for 

 chlorinated pesticide residues in nonfatty foods. J. Ass. Oflac. Agr. Chem. 46 :186- 

 191. 



(10) Phillips, W. E. J. 1963. DDT and the metabolism of Vitamin A and 

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(11) Rice, D. W. and A. A. Wolman. The gray whale Eschrichtius robustus: 

 Life history and ecology. J. Mammal. Spec. Publ. 3 (in press). 



(12) Sladen, W. J. L., C. M. Menzie, and W. L. Reichel. 1966. DDT residues 

 in Adelie penguins and a crab-eater seal from Antarctica. Nature 210(5037) :670- 

 673. 



(13) Tinsley, I. J. 1966. Nutritional interactions in dieldrin toxicity. Agr. 

 Food Chem. 14 :563-565. 



(14) Tomilin, A. G. 1937. Kitv dal-nego Vostoka [The whales of the far east] 

 Uch. Zap. Mosk. Gos. Univ., Ser. Biol. Nauk, 12:119-167. (Russian with English 

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(15) Zenkomch, B. A. 1937. The food of far-eastern whales. C. R. (Dokl.) 

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(16) 1937. Esche o serom kalifornisskom kite (Rhachianeetes glaucus 



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