THE KILLER OR GRAMPUS 



Genus Orca. 



THE KILLER OR GRAMPUS. 



Orca gladiator. Gray. 

 Plate 48. 



In this large species, the adult male attains a length of about thirty 

 feet, the female being considerably less. The head is broad and rounded, 

 the jaws contain about twelve pairs of formidable curved teeth, and the 

 whole body is very robust. The most striking feature in this whale is 

 the enormous development of the flippers and dorsal fin in some of the 

 old males. In Sir Sidney Harmer's Report on Cetaceans Stranded on the 

 British Coasts during 19 16, mention is made of one found in the Sol way 

 Firth whose dorsal fin measured no less than 5 feet 6 inches in length, 

 the pectoral fins 6 feet 8 inches in length and 3 feet 7 inches in breadth, 

 the flippers being larger than those in an adult male Sperm Whale. 



The flukes of the tail are also very broad and strong. 



The upper parts are glossy black in colour, with an elongated white 

 patch extending backwards from just above the eye. The chin, throat, 

 and belly are pure white ; this colour is carried upwards in the form of 

 a well defined lobe which overlaps the black on the sides of the animal. 

 Behind the great dorsal fin, which stands erect in the middle of the 

 back, is a grey or purplish saddle mark extending across the body in 

 the form of a crescent. The Killer ranges far through the Atlantic and 

 Pacific Oceans, fi-om the Arctic ice floes to those of the Antarctic. 



It often visits the British coasts in summer, especially the more northern 



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