THE PILOT WHALE OR BLACK-FISH 



Genus Globicephalus. 



THE PILOT WHALE OR BLACK-FISH. 



Globicephalus melas, Traill. 

 Plate 48. 



The Pilot Whale, Ca'ing Whale, or Black-fish as it is variously named, 

 measures fi-om 16 to 24 feet in length. The head is short, and charac- 

 terised by a high bulging forehead. There is no beak, but the upper jaw 

 projects slightly over the lower. 



The jaws contain ten or eleven pairs of teeth in each, though the 

 number is often less in aged animals. The line of the mouth is oblique. 



The skin is very smooth and shiny, and has been compared to oiled silk. 



The colour in general is bluish black, with a white line extending along 

 the belly, which expands into a broad heart-shaped marking on the throat. 

 The dorsal fin is low, the flippers long, narrow, and curved. 



Whales the same or allied to this species are found widely distributed 

 over the oceans of the world. They are plentiful in the North Atlantic, 

 ranging as far north as Greenland, while in the Pacific they are abundant 

 around the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. 



In British waters it is chiefly found about the Shetlands, Orkneys, and 

 Western Isles of Scotland, less fi-equently in England, where it is stranded 

 from time to time on the coasts, a * school ' having come ashore in Mount's 

 Bay, Cornwall, in the summer of 19 11. 



The Pilot Whale is very gregarious, and often to be seen in large herds 

 containing hundreds of individuals, which appear to be under the control of 



II. 89 M 



