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WHALE
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WHALE , the See also:English name applied to all the larger and some of the smaller representatives of the See also:order See also:CETACEA (q.v.). Although by their mode of See also:life far removed from See also:close observation, whales are in many respects the most interesting and wonderful of all creatures; and there is much in their structure and habits worthy of study. One of the first lessons a study cf these animals affords is that, in the endeavour to discover what a creature really is, from what others it is descended, and to which it is related, the outward See also:appearance affords little See also:clue, and we must go deep below the See also:surface to find the essential characteristics of its nature. There was once, and may be still, an See also:idea that a whale is a See also:fish. To realize the See also:fallacy of this notion we have only to consider what a fish really is, what under all the diversities of See also:form, See also:size and cclour there is See also:common to all fishes, and we see that in everything which. characterizes a true fish and separates if from other classes, as See also:reptiles, birds and mammals, the whale resembles the last and differs from the fish. It is as essentially a mammal as a cow or a See also:horse, and simply resembles a fish externally because it is adapted to inhabit the same See also:element; but it is no more on that See also:account a fish than is a See also:bat (because adapted to pass a See also:great See also:part of its existence on the wing) nearly related to a See also:bird. In every part of the structure of a whale we see the result of two principles acting and reacting upon each other—on the one See also:hand, adherence to type, or rather to fundamental inherited structural conditions, and, cn the other, See also:adaptation to the See also:peculiar circumstances under which it lives, and to which it has become gradually fitted. The See also:external fish-like form is perfectly suited for 569 See also:swimming through the See also:water; the tail, however, is not placed remains in perfect See also:action, filling the whole of the See also:interval. The vertically as in fishes, but horizontally, a position which accords See also:mechanical perfection of the arrangement is completed by the great development of the See also:lower See also:lip, which rises stiffly above the See also:jaw-See also:bone and prevents the See also:long, slender, flexible ends of the See also:whalebone from being carried outwards by the See also:rush of water from the mouth, when its cavity is being diminished by the See also:closure of the jaws and raising of the See also:tongue. If, as appears highly probable, the " bowhead " of the See also:Okhotsk See also:Sea and See also:Bering Strait belongs to this See also:species, its range is circum- polar. Though found in the seas on both sides of See also:Greenland, and passing freely from one to the other, it is never seen so far See also:south as Cape Farewell; but on the Labrador See also:coast, where a See also:cold stream sets down from the See also:north, its range is somewhat farther. In the Bering Sea, according to Scam- mon, " it is seldom seen south of the fifty-fifth parallel, which is about the farthest See also:southern extent of the See also:winter See also:ice, while in the Sea of Okhotsk its southern limit is about the See also:latitude of 54°." " Everything tends to prove," Scammon says, " that Balaena mysticetus is truly an ` ice whale,' for among the scattered floes, or about the See also:borders of the ice-See also:fields or barriers, is its See also:home and feeding-ground. It is true that these animals are pursued in the open water during the summer months, but in no instance have we learned material, the " blubber," a dense See also:kind of See also:fat placed immediately occasionally met with." The occurrence of this species, therefore, on beneath the skin. The fore-limbs, though functionally reduced to See also:mere paddles, with no See also:power of See also:motion except at the See also:shoulder-See also:joint, have beneath their smooth and continuous external covering all the bones, See also:joints and even most of the muscles, nerves and See also:arteries of the human See also:arm and hand; and rudiments even of See also:hind-legs are found buried deep in the interior of the See also:animal, serving no useful purpose, but pointing a See also:lesson to those able to read it. In the See also:present See also:article See also:attention is directed only to what may be regarded as the typical whales. Of these the Greenland or See also:Arctic right whale (Balaena mysticetus) attains, when full grown, a length of from 45 to 50 ft. In this species (fig. 1) all the peculiarities which distinguish the See also:head and mouth of the whales from those of other mammals have attained their greatest development. The head is of enormous size, exceeding one-third the whole length of the creature. The cavity of the mouth is actually larger than that of the See also:body, See also:thorax and See also:abdomen together. The upper jaw is very narrow, but greatly arched from before backwards, to increase the height of the cavity and allow for the great length of the whalebone-See also:blades; the enormous lateral halves of the lower jaw are widely separated posteriorly, and have a further outward sweep before they meet at the symphysis in front, giving the See also:floor of the mouth the shape of an immense See also:spoon. The whalebone-blades attain the number of 380 or more on each See also:side, and those in the See also:middle of the See also:series have a length of so or sometimes 12 ft. They are See also:black in See also:colour, See also:fine and highly elastic in texture, and fray out at the inner edge and ends into long, delicate, soft, almost silky, but tough hairs. The remarkable development of the mouth and of the structures in connexion with it, which distinguishes the right whale from all its See also:allies, is entirely in relation to the nature of its See also:food. By this apparatus the creature is enabled to avail itself of the See also:minute but highly nutritious crustaceans and pteropods which swarm in immense shoals in the seas it frequents. The large mouth enables it to take in at one See also:time a sufficient quantity of water filled with these small organisms, and the length and delicate structure of the whale-bone provide an efficient strainer or See also:hair-See also:sieve by which the water can be drained off. If the whalebone were rigid, and only as long as is the See also:aperture between the upper and lower jaws when the mouth is shut, a space would be See also:left beneath it when the jaws were separated, through which the water and the minute particles of food would See also:escape. But instead of this the long, slender, See also:brush-like, elastic ends of the whalebone blades See also:fold back when the mouth is closed, the front ones passing below the hinder ones in a channel lying between the tongue and the lower jaw. When the mouth is opened, their See also:elasticity causes them to straighten out like a See also:bow unbent, so that at whatever distance the jaws are separated the strainer better with the See also:constant See also:necessity for rising to the surface for the purpose of breathing. The hairy covering characteristic of all mammals, which if present might interfere with rapidity of See also:movement through the water, is reduced to the merest rudiments—a few See also:short bristles about the See also:chin or upper lip—which are often only present in See also:young animals. The See also:function of keeping the body warm is performed by a thick layer of non-conducting the See also:British or any See also:European coast is unlikely, as when alive and in See also:health the southern limit of its range in the North Sea is from the See also:east coast of Greenland at 64° N. See also:lat. along the north of See also:Iceland towards Spitzbergen, and a glance at a See also:physical See also:chart will show that there are no currents setting southwards which could See also:bear a disabled animal or a floating carcase to the British shores. To this improbability may be added the fact that no See also:authentic instance has been recorded of the See also:capture or stranding of this species upon any European coast. Still, as two other Arctic cetaceans, the See also:narwhal and the See also:beluga, have in a few instances found their way to British shores, it would be rash to deny the possibility of the Greenland right whale doing the same. The black whale or southern right whale (B. australis) resembles the preceding in the See also:absence of a dorsal fin and of See also:longitudinal furrows in the skin of the See also:throat and See also:chest, but differs in that it possesses a smaller head in proportion to its body, shorter whalebone, a different-shaped See also:contour of the upper margin of the lower lip, and a greater number of vertebrae. This type inhabits the temperate seas of both southern and See also:northern hemispheres and is divided into several species according to their See also:geographical See also:distribution: B. biscayensis of the North See also:Atlantic, B. japonica of the North Pacific, B. australis of the South Atlantic, and B. antipodarum and B. novae-zelandiae of the South Pacific. But the See also:differential characters by which they are separated are slight, and the number of specimens available for comparison is not sufficient to afford the necessary data to determine whether these characters can be regarded as specific or not. The See also:Biscay right whale was formerly abundant in the North Atlantic, but is now verging on extinction. This was the whale the pursuit of which gave occupation to a numerous See also:population on the shores of the Basque provinces of See also:France and See also:Spain in the middle ages. From the loth to the 16th centuries See also:Bayonne, See also:Biarritz, St See also:Jean de Luz and See also:San See also:Sebastian, as well as numerous other towns on the north coast of Spain, were the centres of an active whale " See also:fishery," which supplied See also:Europe with oil and whalebone. In later times the whales were pursued as far as the coast of See also:Newfoundland. They were, however, already getting scarce when the voyages under-taken towards the close of the 16th See also:century for the See also:discovery of the north-eastern route to See also:China and See also:India opened the seas See also:round Spitzbergen; then for the first time the existence of the Greenland whale became known, and henceforth the energies of the European whale-fishers became concentrated upon that animal. Among instances of the occurrence of this whale in Europe in See also:modern times may be mentioned three, namely, in the See also:harbour of San Sebastian in See also:January 1854, in the Gulf of See also:Taranto, in the Mediterranean, in See also:February 1877, and on the See also:Spanish coast between Guetaria and Zarauz (See also:Guipuzcoa) in February 1878. The skeletons of these three whales are preserved in the museums of See also:Copenhagen, See also:Naples and San Sebastian respectively. On the coast of the See also:United States several specimens have been taken; and a See also:cargo of whalebone belonging to this species was received at New See also:Bedford in 1906. During the latter See also:year six examples were killed by whalers from Buneveneader, in the See also:island of See also:Harris (see R. C. See also:Haldane, See also:Ann. See also:Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 13). In the North Pacific a similar if not identical whale is regularly hunted by the See also:Japanese, who See also:tow the carcases ashore for the purpose of flensing and extracting the whalebone. In the tropical seas, however, right whales are never or rarely seen; but the southern temperate ocean, especially in the neighbourhood of the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope, Kerguelen's Island, See also:Australia and New See also:Zealand, is inhabited by " black whales," once abundant, but now nearly exterminated through the wanton destruction of the See also:females as they visit the bays and inlets round the coast, their constant See also:habit in the breeding time. The range of these whales southward has not been accurately determined; but no species corresponding with the Arctic right whale has been met with in the See also:Antarctic seas. See also HUMP-BACK WHALE, See also:RORQUAL, SPERM-WHALE, BELUGA, &c. (W. H. F.; R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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