Glacier Island "Sea Monster"

An Alaska newspaper recounts the story of the 1930 Glacier Island carcase. (If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time the whole story was been given.) (News source.)

White Killer Whale

NOAA scientists ran across a white killer whale while in the Aleutian Islands. Photos here, here, and here. (News source.)

Whale in the Tapajos

An 18-foot minke whale was found 1,000 miles upriver in the Amazon, grounded on a sandbar in the Tapajos River. (News source.)

White Whaling

There are serious concerns that Japan's whaling fleet may kill a white humpbacked whale that has become an annual celebrity in its migrations to Australia's Great Barrier Reef. (News source.)

Dwarf Killer Whale?

The killer whale is familiar to us all due in part to its popularized appearance in media attractions, like Shamu from Sea World. However, there has been much debate over how many species of these whales actually exist in the worlds oceans.

The killer whale, Orcinus orca, is the only species formally accepted at this time. However, not the only one described. Orcinus nanus was described in 1981 and Orcinus glacialis was described in 1982, both by Soviet researchers. O. nanus was based on body measurements with no maintained holotype, while O. glacialis was based on at least 6-specimens, unfortunately the holotype and paratypes were later discarded .

Later three (3) subcategories of killer whales were broken out based on observed specimens as well as photographic evidence.

Type A – the classic killer whale that inhabits the open Antarctic waters, primarily feeding on minke whales

Type B – gray, black and white form that lives in the loose pack ice areas and feeds primarily on pinnipeds.

Type C – gray, black and white form that lives in the hard pack ice and feeds primarily on fish.

Each of these types varies in eye patch coloration as well, leading researchers such as Pitman and Ensor to speculate that type B and C may well be distinct species based on ecological and morphological differences.

Recently researchers R.L. Pitman, W.L. Perryman, D. LeRoi and E. Eilers took the task on of evaluating the whales, and have thus had their paper “A dwarf form of killer whale in Antarctica” published in the Journal of Mammalogy 88 (1): 43-48, 2007.

The researchers conducted helicopter flights, 10 in total, starting in January 2005. Taking images from 8 of the flights, the researchers collected 252 images of unique specimens. The Type C specimen was the only one observed during the flights, and 220 of the images were viable for measurement analysis.

The results suggest that the Type C specimens are distinctly smaller than Orcinus orca, being up to 50% smaller in size. While the results do not support these whales being a distinct species, they are suggestive of a reproductive isolation of the Type C wherein adult females Type A’s are an average 0.8 metres larger than adult Type C males, making it less likely the female would mate with the smaller male.

The researchers do not go as far as stating these Type C whales are new species, rather suggest that additional morphological and genetic analysis must be done to determine whether a secondary species exists in the Antarctic waters. Until then one can only speculate that at a minimum there are at least two distinct groupings of whales, with the Type B category being either a potential third group, or a grouping of mixed Type A’s and Type C’s.

Beaked Whale Stranding / Death

Whale may be a mountain of information

By Lunga Mtshizana

SUNDAY TIMES -

The carcass of a rare beaked whale at Morgan’s Bay may hold the key to unlocking new information about this mysterious mammal of the deep.

The 5,7 ton whale died on Sunday after a dramatic attempt to push it back into the ocean failed.
“The beaked whale is the least known whale and it is also amongst the least known mammals, therefore this is a very significant find,” Port Elizabeth Museum marine mammal scientist Stephanie Plön said.

Yesterday, Plön and her team removed the whale’s stomach contents and reproductive organs and took genetic samples, measurements and photographs. The scientists are hoping to determine the type of beaked whale this female specimen belonged to.

“Genetic analysis will help us determine whether this is a new species of beaked whale or whether it belongs to one of the existing species,” said Plön.

“From its stomach contents we will be able to determine its feeding behaviour and it will help us learn more about an animal which is very rare in South Africa and in other parts of the world.”

In 2004, scientists at the Port Elizabeth Museum found a new species of beaked whale after using genetic testing.

Gill Watson, collections manager for the Port Elizabeth Museum, said there were very minimal chances that the blood from the beaked whale would attract sharks to the beach, but she advised people not to swim at Morgan’s Bay until all the whale’s blood had been washed away.

Plön added the Eastern Cape Parks Board will now bury the dead whale and that scientists would return at a later stage for the animal’s skeleton. Plön said the whale might have been washed up because of old age, or because it was sick or in labour. She advised locals not to eat its meat as the cause of death has not been determined.