NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 14

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.

HOW WHALES FEED. The following paper, written by Mt R. Henry, of Resolution Island, was read to members of the Otago Institute recently, and w?s listened to with a good deal of interest. Mr C. W. Chamberlain introduced the paper, and at the outset mentioned that he cou id not coincide with Mr Henry's views, but was very pleased to be able to present them to the institute: — In describing rorqual recently a good authorit}- wrote: — "It has whalebone, or baleen, grow mc; down from the roof of tha mouth, by means of which the water is filtered from the food as the beast swims rapidly through the sea with its mouth open. . . . Ito throat, chest, and 'he beginning of the belly are furrowed with 40 or 50 narrow grooves running back side by side from tiie under lip. Those furrows allow the skin of the threat to be greatly distended by the accumulation of its food — small fieh in this specie" — in a pouch below the tougue." The above is generally supposed to be the way the whale feeds, but I ' think there is something wrong about it. >II the whale swam along open-mouthed t his fringe and baleen would greatly retard . I the exit of the water from his mouth, and that, of course, would only allow ii* to ' enter the mouth very slowly, which might do for catching " prawns," though I am not , sure of that, for they can see well, and ! make some attempt to get out of the way ; ' ■ and it seems to me that such a plan would ; i not do at ail for catching lively little fish ' ! that are accustomed to he hunted. Nothing ; can be caught by sweeping a closed-bottomod | I -vessel through the water, and the angle of J I the whale' b mouth, where the water is sup- • , ' posed to escape, ie so small in area that , it is practically closed with baleen and i fringe when the animal is swimming quickly. Therefore, I do not think that the whale is i fool enough to drive his great open mouth j through the water for all it can catch that j I way. It would be a much better plan for , him to keen his mouth shut till he was ' in the thick of the food he wanted, and then open it, take in the food with a great j mouthful of water, set his fringe outside, expel the water, and retain what food he had caught. This plan would be specially suitable for the rorqual, with his small mouth, short fringe, and greatly extensivo throat ; in fact, he could hardly do without that extension in dealing with lively little fish. I often notice here that when, a blue cod comes within an inch or two ot the bait it seems to fly injo his mouth when he opens it. Mv boy said that they sucked it in to save themselves going so far, but it was only the vacuum caused by suddenly opening the big mouth. If a blue cod was to chase little fish with his mouth wide open he would never catch any, because in the first place his big mouth would greatly retard liis progress through the water, and, in the second, it might as well be solid as full of water, so that the fish would not go into it, but would slip pasl with the current. Therefore we may be sure that he keeps his mouth tightly shut till he gets within an inch or two of what he wants, and then opens it suddenly, when the prey will slip in in spite of itself. The extensive throat of the rorqual, by allowing him to take in a great quantity of water and set his fringe outside, would bo very effective in a dense shoal of sprats or pilchards. The whale is foremost of all animals in having a great store of concentrated food in his blubber, and in accordance with this arrangement is likely to have a rapid digestion, and, therefore, no need to store fish under his tongue. Wo have no idea of what the value of this concentrated food may be, because one pound of it may be better for the whale than a ton of fish ; and if he had only a little while in a great shoal of food he might store enough to enable him to go round the world without eating another ( mouthful. The male seal comes ashore and works his very hardest for two or three months without eating or drinking, and yet , has only a moderate store of blu"ober compared to that of the whale. Since writing . the abo\e, Mr Thomas Cook, of Cook Bros., at the Bay of Islands, informs mo ] that the real whale food is composed of | creatures so small that you can hardly see , them with tho naked eye; that they make , the soa iook like muddy water for miles, j and that they diffuse a peculiar smell. , " When I used to be taking my watch on , deck at night," said he, "my experienced } old whaling captain would telL me to call { tiim if I smelled the food, and we would ] lie by till morning, when we might see a < whale swimming back and forward through j - it. I do not think that the black whale j j ever eats the red whalefood or even the j c mysis." There was a revelation for me. j j I had always read every item I met about whales, but missed the most important item t of food, or only read the misleading ones, t Mr Cook says, "We always sewed up a r whale's mouth before starting to tow it, c for if the great jaw hung out we could not j c toyr it at all," £vua the Yaukeea t

i that they ha^e been taught a lesson in catching whales by Britishers — by the Cook brothers at the Bay of Islands, — and it soems that the same gentlemen can give us ideas on other things. Professor Benham expressed the opinion, that Mr Henry was mistaken in the countson which ho had founded his paper. Mr Henry was perfectly well aware that the whale had to shut his mouth from time to time. No one ever imagined the whale went through the water any distance with hia mouth open. He then quoted an eminent authority in support of the opinion controverted by Mr Henry. Mr Hamilton, speaking as an ordinary person, who did not know much about ■vvhftles, asked if it would not be a very large contract to sew up a whale's mouth. — (Laughter.) Mr Chamberlain replied that he had never towed a whale himself, but. of course, it was quite impossible that Mr Cook had told Mr Henry a fish story.— (Renewed laughter.)