Abstract
IN view of the complete lack of accurate know ledge on the migrations of whales, the “Discovery” Committee has for the past nine years been con ducting experiments in whale-marking. The only practicable method of marking is by shooting a mark into the blubber from a gun. In the first series of experiments the mark used consisted of a barbed pin attached to a disc designed to lie flush with the surface of the body. Numbers of whales were marked by this means, but no marks were returned from those engaged in the whaling industry. At the Marine Biological Station in South Georgia it was found that Pennella, a parasitic copepod which infects whales in temperate and sub-tropical regions, was rapidly extruded from the blubber when the whales visited the cold waters of the Antarctic, and since this parasite is very firmly anchored in its host, it is practically certain that the whale marks were extruded in the same way. Another pattern of mark was deviseda short length of stainless steel tubing fitted with a leaden head. This mark is designed to embed itself completely in the blubber; when once the wound of entry has healed, the mark cannot fall out, and it will be found without difficulty by the whalers when the blubber is stripped from the carcase. Experiments conducted with this pattern give promise of success: five of the marks used have been recovered, three after the lapse of a few weeks and two after thirteen months. In no case], was there any sign of suppuration, and in some the wound could not be found. All the whales were in good condition. The Committee is now under taking whale-marking on a larger scale. One of its scientific staff, Mr. A. H. Laurie, left England in September to carry out the work in South Georgia, and on October 16 the R.R.S. William Scoresby left for the whaling grounds off Bouvet Island and Enderby Land on a whale-marking cruise. Mr. G. W. Rayner, who has conducted many of the earlier ex periments, is scientific officer in charge, with Lieutenant C. R. U. Boothby in executive command.
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Whale-Marking in South Georgia. Nature 134, 599 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134599b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134599b0