GRAY WHALE OBSERVED IN THE BERING SEATADAYOSHI ICHIHARA
The gray whale is a moderate-sized whalebone whale about 40 feet longand now survives from its extermination only in the Pacific Ocean. Thereis not any information available on the gray whale alive elsewhere. The
stock of the gray whale was protected from whaler by the internationallaw in 1946, since then it has increased by and by. Gilmore (1955)
stated "The California gray whale is back by the thousands again, twice
almost exterminated by man". Sleptsov (1955) also described the numberof the gray whale apparently increasing since 1946.
The gray whale has characteristics to enter inlets and lagoons in thebreeding warm waters and even in the feeding cold waters. This
peculiar behavior makes the observation easy. Many valuable informations
on the life history of the gray whale have been given through the observation from the shore and from the air by plane and helicopter, especiallyin California.
The migration of the gray whale seems to be more regular in its course
than other rorqual. One route of its migration is the west side and theother route is the east side in the Pacific Ocean. The west side whale,Korea gray whale, stays in the waters adjacent to Korea in winter andlives in the Okhotsk Sea in summer. It crosses the Japan Sea in transitof its journey. On the other hand, the east side whale, California graywhale, breeds calves in the waters near California in winter and feeds
in the Bering Sea and the Polar Sea in summer. It crosses the North
Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea in transit of its migration. The migration of the Korea gray whale seems to be more simple in its course thanthat of the California gray whale, because the areas in transit are morenarrow for the former than for the latter. In 1955, the migrationroutes of the gray whale were outlined in the Gilmore's map, in which
the author separated the west population from the east one. Sleptsov also
stated that two populations of gray whales might have mingled witheach other long before the depletion of their stocks, but the sharp
decrease in numbers of whale led each stock to isolation. Whereas,
gray whales sometimes lived near the Kurile Islands and off the East
Japan far from their normal migration routes, he stated. We have now
no knowledge on the gray whale off the shore of Japan ourselves. According to Gilmore's map, the distribution of the gray whale in the Bering Sea
is restricted within the waters near Siberia. In the same year whenGilmore drew the map, Sleptsov showed the distribution of the gray201

202

T. ICHIHARA

whale near Siberia. According to Sleptsov, the gray whale lives farther
northward in Olyutorskiy Gulf in the Bering Sea and it usually does notappear off Kamtchatka and near the Commander Islands. It arrives inthe Russian waters in the Bering Sea late in May and early in June,usually staying in the Bering strait and along the coast of the Chukchi
Sea in summer, however, in a very few cases it enters Olyutorskiy Gulf.
The California gray whale sets forth the northward migration from thewarm waters in the interval between March and April. After two or
three months, the gray whale appears again in the summer feedingareas. Where does it live in transit of its journey? Here I would liketo quote Zenkovich's description (Kleinenberg & Makarov 1955), in which
Grebnitskii states that no gray whale is found near the CommanderIslands, although we had chances to see it in the past. Inhabitants
familiar with creatures near the Commander Islands have now nothing
to tell about the gray whale themselves, but they remember theirforefathers' memories that they saw gray whales in the waters near
the Aleutian Islands in the past.
In the past six years, the Japanese boats began the scouting works
from the middle of May soon before the whaling seasons were open.
In the northern part of the North Pacific and in the Bering Sea, they
took records on whales which contained not only the important species
for the whaling industry, but also the rare species; the gray and black rightwhale under protection from whalers. We have little actual knowledge,
in regard to the remainder of the gray whale south in the Bering Sea
during the seasons above mentioned, except two evidences. One evidence
is uncertain, that is, an animal something like a gray whale was discoveredfrom the boat at the position of 55°0l'N, 162° 28'E on August 17 in
1956. This whale was moving to SE in its course and did not give
whalers the chance to approach it. In May every year, we could findother whales containing the blue, fin, humpback and sperm, off Kamtchatka and in the west side waters near the Aleutian Islands, where
we had no chance to discover the gray whale early in summer. Thegray whale may cross there earlier than other whales on its northwardmigration.
On the other hand, there was another evidence of the gray whale in thesouth of the Bering Sea on May 29 in 1957. When I was charged in
the whale marking on board a catching boat, I found a gray whale
north in the Unimak Pass. This whale was moving northwards, and I
had never expected that the gray whale lived there, and so I set myself toobserve it in details. It was about 35 feet long and was swimmingalone without fright at the noisy tons of engine of our boat. I could
see many barnacles and cyamids on its body, but find no difference fromGRAYW HALEOBSERVED INTHE BERINGSEA

203

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Bering Sea, so it is not easy to draw its migration routes on the map.
Here, let us cast a glance over the distributions of other whales. Finwhales marked in 1957 bore two evidences on their northward migrations.
According to Kawakami & Ichihara (1958) two fin whales marked in theBering Sea early in July moved northwards along the contour line of 200
meters, ranging from the Unimak Pass to Cape Navarin in Siberia. With
regard to the humpback whales marked, we have no evidence of their movements in the Bering Sea. Our knowledges on the distribution of thisspecies are as follows: A great number of humpback whales usually fed

Siberia·--50°N

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Fig. 2. Magration route of the gray whale in the Bering Sea.... Contour line of 200 meters• Position discovered.,.__ _, Gilmore's routex Uncertain record<='> My proposed routesouth of the east part of the Aleutian Islands in the interval between Mayand September. And in the past years they often appeared north of
the Aleutian Islands. In the Bering Sea, 3 humpback whales wererecorded to live near the contour line mentioned above, that is, 1
humpback whale swam at the position of 54°40'N, 171°3l'W, on July 27in 1955, 2 whales at the position of 55°40'N, 174°10'W and 1 whale atthe position of 56°50'N, 175°20'W on June 22 in 1957. Besides, we havethe information that 12 humpback whales lived in Anadyr Gulf late inGRAY WHALE OBSERVED IN THE BERING SEA205

August 1957. Sleptsov (1955) stated humpback whales often appearedin herds of hundreds in Anadyr Gulf, whereas they seldom appeared off
Kamtchatka every season. Certainly, our records indicate humpback
whales live in less numbers off Kamtchatka than in the east waters of
the Aleutian Islands in summer. As regards the sei whale in the northernpart of the Bering Sea, it is reported that an animal was swimming at
the position 59°19'N, 177°56'W on July 30 in 1955. Even if the seasonof northward migration differs a little among whale species, can we notdraw the migration route of the gray whale in the same manner as thatof the fin or humpback whale? I here examine the migration route of
the gray whale in the Bering Sea and show it with Gilmore's route infigure 2. My proposed route was already assumed by Kellogg in 1929.
With regard to the food of the gray whale, there are many descriptions
reported in the past. Kellogg states 'In the Bering Sea, gray whales
feed on several kinds of amphipods resembling sand fleas'. According
to Gilmore, gray whale fattens on abundant large plankton, especiallyeuphausiid shrimps in the polar waters off Kamtchatka and in the BeringStrait. Arseniev and Zenkovich (Kleinenberg & Makarov 1955) showed
the food of the gray whale compaing with those of other whales, and according to their observations gray whales feed on bottom living amp hipods
in the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea. It is appreciated from theirpaper that in the northern part of the Bering Sea humpback whales
resemble gray whale in their foods.
As far as we continue to protect gray whales from whalers in thefuture, we shall have many chances to observe them enjoy their lives,
and we shall be able to draw their accurate migration routes on the map.

REFERENCES
ANDREWS, R.C. (1914).

Monographs of the Pacific cetacea.

The California gray whale(Rhachianectes glaucus cope). Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., New series, 1 :231-84.
GILMORE, R.M. (1955). The return of the gray whale. Sci. Amer., 192:62-7.
GILMORE, R.M. & EWING, G. (1954). Calving of the California Grays. Pacific Discovery,
7:13-5.
KAWAKAMI, T. & !CHIHARA, T. (1958). Japanese whale marking in the North Pacific in
1956 and 1957. (Hvalfangst-Tid., no. 6:285-91)
KELLOGG, R. (1940). Whales, giants of the sea. Nat. Geogr. Mag., 77:35-90.
- - - - (1929). What is known of the migration of some of the whalebone whale. Smithsrmian Rep, 2997.
KLEINENBERG, S.E. & MAKAROV, T.I. (1955). Kitoboinyi promycel Sovetkogo Soiuza.
Moskva, Vniro. 116 p.
SLEPTSOV, M.M. (1955). Kitoovraznye. Trudy lnstituta Okeanologii, AN SSSP, XIV.
- - - - (1955). Biologiia i promysel kiwv Dal'nevostochnykh Morei. Moskva, 62 p.