THE AGE OF FISHES 179 



The history of whale fisheries is one of careless exploitation 

 which has driven a once important industry from the Atlantic 

 to the distant Antarctic. The sperm whale or cachalot was at 

 one time caught in nearly every part of the Atlantic, and the 

 right whale flourished in the colder northern waters. As far 

 back as the eighteenth century the United States alone out- 

 fitted over 700 whaling ships which hunted along with British 

 and some Scandinavian ships from North Africa to the Arctic. 

 By the middle of the nineteenth century the slaughter was so 

 great that both sperm and right whale became almost extinct 

 and the rorqual whales alone lived in undiminished numbers, 

 largely because with their speedier movements they were able 

 to evade the old type of hand harpoon. 



This was a temporary respite, however. In 1860 the Nor- 

 wegian Captain Sven Foyn invented a harpoon gun with 

 which the faster rorquals could be taken. By this time the 

 American whaling industry had practically disappeared, and 

 the revival was almost entirely Norwegian. The renewed on- 

 slaught against rorquals soon decimated these unfortunate 

 creatures in the North Atlantic, with the result that at the 

 beginning of this century the fishery transferred its major oper- 

 ations from the coasts of Norway, Iceland, and the Shetlands 

 to the rich virgin waters of the Antarctic. Today the North 

 Atlantic is no longer so important to the whaling industry; but 

 it is possible that with continued international control the 

 northern herds of these giant animals may return to their 

 former size and number. 



Although in proportion to size there are many fiercer crea- 

 tures in the ocean, the sperm whale is nevertheless a carnivore, 

 and its long lower jaw is well provided with great pointed teeth, 

 enabling it to catch the fishes and squids which go to make up 

 its food. The right whales and rorquals are entirely different 

 from the sperm. Instead of teeth, their upper jaws grow out 

 into horny plates with long hairlike fringes of whalebone hang- 



