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 from 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 frequently 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 191 1. 
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 
11. 89 M 
