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English: Title: The Canadian field-naturalist Identifier: canadianfieldnat1986otta (find matches) Year: 1986 (1980s) Authors: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club Subjects: Publisher: Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: 1986 Reeves, Finley, Mitchell and MacDonald: Sperm Whales 175 C.HOPES ADVANCE Text Appearing After Image: Figure I. Map of Ungava Bay, showing place names mentioned in the text. Numbers in circles refer to specimens described in the text. whale was discovered by Mark Elijahpik of Fort Chimo on the ice 3.8 km south of Ragged Point (58°47'N, 68°23'W) in early spring 1981 (Figure 1; Record No. 4). C. Drolet investigated this stranding for us on 7 July 1981 (Figure 3). He noted that the whale was a dark colour with a whitish belly (or genital area?). Its penis was protruding. Drolet measured this male Sperm Whale at 16.8 m in total length, and he collected two mandibular teeth from near the center of the jaw (Figures 4 and 5). Considering the condition of the carcass, we suspect the whale's length was actually somewhat less. Other measurements are shown in Table 1. The more complete tooth (EDM 1000-10183) was sectioned longitudinally and etched in a bath of 10% formic acid by V. M. Kozicki (procedures outlined in Perrin and Myrick 1980: 42). We counted 32-42 growth layer groups (terminology of Perrin and Myrick 1980) in the tooth. We have no confirmed records of live Sperm Whales in Ungava Bay, although residents of George River claim to see large whales during late fall whose blows come out of the head at an angle and to the side, which is characteristic of Sperm Whales (Sandy Gordon, personal communication to Reeves, 27 October 1981). The stranded whales could have died far from their stranding sites and simply drifted Figure 2. Antero-dorsal view of the large male Sperm Whale at Pitsiulaqsiti (Cape Kernertut), summer 1970. The whale's blowhole, clearly seen in the right foreground, permits positive identification, as the Sperm Whale is the only cetacean with the blowhole situated at the left front edge of the blunt snout. ashore. This is unlikely, however, because the current flows west to east through Hudson Strait, with a counterclockwise intrusion of Hudson Bay water into Ungava Bay (Dunbar 1951). To reach the southeast part of Ungava Bay, the whales that stranded there would have had to move against the current (estimated at 9 cm/s, surface velocity, by Dunbar 1951). The Calanus expeditions to study the marine fauna Table I. Measurements made by C. Drolet of a stranded male Sperm Whale near Ragged Point, Ungava Bay, on 7 July 1981. Length (cm) Total body 1680 Tip of snout to tip of lower jaw 100 Tip of snout to center of blowhole 80 Tip of snout to dorsal fin (hump) 1060 Depth of fluke 120 Width of flukes 200x2 Number of teeth in lower jaw: 23x2 Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.