FIRST ANTARCTIC RECORD OF A KILLER
WHALE STRANDING
HUGO P. CASTELLO
Centro Nacional Patag6nico de Geo-Helioffsica, Puerto Madryn, Pvcia. de Chubut, Argentina

ALDO P. TOMO
Instituto Antdrtico Argentina, Cap. Fed., Argentina

JORGE S. PANIZZA
Depto. Cs. Biol6gicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Cap. Fed., Argentina

On the afternoon (6 P.M.) of 16 January 1973, during a "Zodiac" out motor rubber boat collecting trip from Palmer Station (64° 45' S, 64° 58' W), Antarctica, toCormorant Island, looking for the blue-eyed shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps) we needed
for neurophysiological research (Torno, Panizza and Castello, 1973) arriving to theshore of Cormorant Island through a short channel carved in the rocks, we were surprised to find, during low-tide, a stranded killer whale (Orcinus orca), 5.2 meters
long and approximately 1. 5 metric ton in weight (Fig. 1). We took color photographs immediately and also some notes. The stranded "orca" was of female
sex; time since death was estimated on two weeks or more. Black and white colorsof the tegument had been partially removed by floating ice debris abrasion, someof the 25 powerfull teeth were broken, possibly by crashing floating ice against theopen mouth (Fig. 2). It was possible to observe, also, "tooth wear" as it has
been previously described (Caldwell and Brown, 1964) and some blood clots on arock just under the tongue. Even though 0°C water temperatures are common
during austral summer, air temperatures, specially during sunny days, may reach
l0°C or more, thus the sun had heated the body and visceral putrefaction had greatly
progressed when we met the carcass.
Some gas bubbles sporadically escaped from a 3 cm wide circular hole on thetegument of the middle back. No other wound was seen in the carcass. The bodywas full of gas and increased in width, so it probably floated.
Floating and drifting dead whales like the Balaenoptera a.ff borealis (Fig. 3)
are not common in the Antarctic. Scientific reports on stranded cetacea or bones
collected in those latitudes are few, only one skull of the " cruciger dolphin "(Lagenorhynchus cruciger) has been found and recently described from Livingston
Island (Islas Shetland del Sur) (Fraser and Noble, 1968) and one Phocoena dioptrica
collected at South Georgia (Fraser, 1968).
When five days latter we returned to Cormorant Island for obtaining measureents and to examine it's stomach content we could not find the " orca " carcass
along the coast of the tiny island. We realized then what had happened: in thesame way as it probably reached the shore it went away, floating and drifting like
Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst.,
No. 26, 1974, 255-258

256

CASTEしし0,TOl¥,fO八 i¥"
D PA:¥JIZZAFig.1. FemaleOr
cinusorca,strandedat CormorantIsland(64。
47s,64°59W)on arocky只ho
町（ 16January,1973).

Sc
i.Re戸.J
V/talesRes.Inst.
,.
Vo.26 1
97‑
1司G
¥
'1l
ミAND
IT
＼HAしES
ミ＼＇LLE！
KI75.
l'.
stn
lacemepis
daldinandt
oitc,winda
tsenr
rcur
lwate
ocar dawaybyl,carabuoynaiandSeenleheGr
1omt
endingf
angeext
srt,idetub
1itisdedsworldwi
aicr
sounicOrsandalwaterncoastyilfehi)c469,1serar
FeSouth(hnt
sSeai
heRos
otht
heNorttionsonecanvatereofourobs. Onthebas)
86
9,1
RiceandSche町erons(iegerr
cool'
52°0
4a(ulnssPeni
detValyduringFebruarya
aneousl
imult
es"sl
rwha
ell
iound"kfαiral
O(,''olcpnuedobol，laesru
ffospupdnastlu
danogniede/)fI'V
03°3S,6ncsu
ahsgnilleB(tiartSchcalrcGehtnisandcrickcoerrhoysコl)fromthenear
snecsevalj
叩Ccsocytr,thatt)
e
αi
Ledsa
i
lecsogiPns （icpenguing Adelis,chaacitcratnnA)iaSes.
twimmingmovemen
ngand porpoising"swimmi
tssawithfdch
aprgotoh,psilaero.bff.
aar
岬 ／e,Balae
daydellar
ULa
gnnit
fi
r
ddnga
ni
taol. F.3
gi
Feh
omt
r,f.Tomo¥yi,b097
ry1
aur
be.F
az
anr
epeEs
saarB
ea,ntolaF
el
rdaI.
tra.
n"
itraI.
nra.Slar. G.ARA.
叩ralerbecI
hent
etaceaniarc
tpopuls
hemo
stknownand t
hebe
stei
rwhal
lel
i
thoughklAsnopub‑ei
her,tlau
ns
i
n
icPe
ctr
a
heAnt
ngt
orcommonalehta
cOceanandriAntarcttsi
hehab
tpaperontnelogy，巴xceptanexcel
iol
ourand b
sbehavit
toni
hedrepor
si
l
‑
rasu
i
dr
ar
e
B
1dna)
atar
t
sor
otu
caaretponeaLaBs(e20minkewhal,1selrwhaell
iof60k3°
6anza(rpeaEsi
HopeBay)Baheof(ceaihesnt
opoolsi
dt
teci
trse
ingre
ib
xu
on,young
tsibaononh
ti
pi
cr
s
omede
hst
twi
ropedr,andanol)
759°vV)(Taylor,1,57
Sn,and
i
alf
s
edor
lema
h
toft
ht
gn
cnl
oni
i
ati
eandvar
hap,s
erns
tt
rpa
otcol
andadulomiddleeSeptembertlddrom mi
iodf
heper
t. Duringt
ieedblsi
srpoiehksont
remar,noWilssSea) (RoscM urdo Sound (lvra of.
ehearnt
ed i・enseobofMarch,wer.
)
7091noiormat
fndielai,detelrwhalehekiobeknownaboutt
lmuehtlitss
巴 i
Ther−t・si.hssReel
仇aIp.I.ReicS1‑
79.
.26,1oλワ

258

CASTELLO, TOMO AND PANIZZA

about its distribution is not available or whether it migrates or if stocks in the north
are separate from those in the south.
The second of us spent 1967 at Estacion Cientifica "Almirante Brown" (64°50' S, 62° 50' W) and carried among other works, a record of cetacean sightings.
Three different species were observed in 19 occasions with a total of 34 specimens
observed in front of the main building of the Station in the period March-July.
Only once, the 6 of April (08.50 A.M. ), 5 killer whales were observed at Bahia Paraiso. As something unusual a whale (Balaenoptera spp.) was observed the 23 of Julyswimming between broken ice, while the last two were recorded the 15 of May.
It is almost sure that during the austral winter, before thick ice covers coastal
areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, killer whales move to open waters, probably swimming to subantarctic areas. This hypothesis has to be proved and we must remark
what has been previously stated: " research in the Antarctic so far has contributed
but little to what is known of this creature " (Fraser, 1964).
Hershkovitz (1966) gives 80 bibliographic mentions on Orcinus orca only 5 arereferred to sightings in antarctic waters at different places (Hope Bay; between
Powell and South Shetland Islands; 70° 23' S, 85° 57' W; 78° S, 170° E; 77° 46' S,166° E).
In the period December 1972-February 1973, killer whales were observed ineight occasions in the Gerlache Strait (Castello and Duguy, in press) and in ouropinion this strait must be selected as an area for studying the behaviour and biologyof this important and largely neglected species.
REFERENCESCASTELLO, H.P. and R. DuGuv, (In press). Observations sur Jes Cetaces de Patagonie, Subantarctique etAntarctique (novembre 1972-fevrier 1973). Mammalia.
CALDWELL, D. K. and D. H. BROWN, 1964. Tooth wear as a correlate of described feeding behavior by
the killer whale, with notes on a captive specimen. Bull. Soc. Calif. Acad. Sc., 63(3): 128-140.
FRASER, F. C., 1964. Whales and whaling. In Antarctic Research (ed. R. Priestley and others) Butterworth, cap., XI: 191-205.
FRASER, F. C., 1968. Notes on a specimen of Phocoena dioptrica from South Georgia. Brit. Ant. Surv. Bull.,
16: 51-56.
FRASER, F. C. and B. A. NoBLE, 1968. A skull of Lagenorhynchus cruciger from Livingston Island, South
Shetland Islands. Brit. Ant. Surv. Bull., 15: 29-38.
HERSKOVITZ, P., 1966. Catalog of living whales. Bull. Unit. Stal. Nat. Mus., 246: 1-259.
RrcE, D. W. and V. B. SCHEFFER, 1968. A list of the marine mammals of the world. U.S. Fish Wild!.
Ser. Spee. Scient. Rep. Bur. Comm. Fish., 579: 1-16.
TAYLOR, R.J. F., 1957. An unusual record of three species of whale being restricted to pools in Antarctic
sea-ice. Proc. Zoo!. Soc. London, 129: 325-331.
ToMo, A. P., PANIZZA, J. S. and H.P. Y CASTELLO, 1973. Neurophysiological research in fishes andbirds at Palmer Station. Ant.]. U. S., VIII, 4, 202-203.
WILSON, E. A., 1907. Cetacea. Nat. Ant. Exp. Nat. Hist. Zoo!., II: 6-8.

Sci. Rep. Whales Res. Inst.,No. 26, 1974