Family B a l æ n o p t e r i d æ
Genus Megaptera
T he genus is thus distinguished, according to Beddard : ‘ Dorsal fin not very
prominent ; throat plaits fairly numerous ; scapula with no marked acromion or
coracoid process ; pectoral fin very elongate.’
T H E H UM PB A C K E D W H A L E
Megaptera bo ops, Fabricius.
Balæna boops, Fabricius (nec Linn.) ‘ Fauna Greenland,’ p. 36 (1780);
Balæna nodosa, Bonnaterre, ‘ Cétologie,’ p. 5 (1789).
Balænoptera jubartes, Lacépède, ‘ Hist. Nat. des Cétacés’ (1804).
Baleinoptère poeskop, Desmoulins, ‘ Diet. Class.’ vol. ii. p. 164 (1822).
Balæna lalan dii, Fischer, ‘ Syn. Mamm.’ (1828).
Baleena longimana, Rudolphi, ‘ Abh. Ak. Berlin,’ p. 133 (1829).
Megaptera longimana, Gray, ‘ Voy. E rebus and Terror,’ p. 17 (1846).
Megaptera poeskop, Gray, ‘ Voy. E rebus and T erro r ,’ p. 27 (1846).
KyphobaUena keporkak, Eschricht, ‘ Nord. Wallthiere,’ p. 146 (1849).
Megaptera novoe zelandiæ, Gray, ‘ P.Z.S.’ p. 207 (1864).
Megaptera lalan dii, Van Beneden, ‘ Bull, de l’Acad. Belg.’ 2nd ser. vol. xviii. (? 1864).
Poescopia lalan dii, Gray, ‘ Cat Seals and Whales,’ p. 126 (1866).
Megaptera bodps, Van Beneden and Gervais, ‘ Ostéog. des Cétacés,’ p. 120 (1880).
Megaptera nodosa, True,1 ‘ Whalebone Whales of the West. North Atlan.’ p. 211 (1904).
Local Names.— The Humpback (English) ; K n ulh va l, K n olhval, P u kkelhval, Troldhva l
(Norwegian) ; Buckelhva l (German) ; Keporkak (Greenlanders).
Characters.— Form massive and unshapely ; head flat and broad and obtuse ;
back fin low and small ; pectoral flippers 10 to 14 feet in length, lanceolate, scalloped
on the margins and with the extremity recurved ; flukes of tail broad ; the head and
lips are generally studded with tubercles as well as the margin of the pectorals.
1 Dr. True considers that boops of Fabricius is antedated by Balæna boops of Linnæus, and therefore employs the
nodosa of Bonnaterre. But some authorities consider that Linnæus’s Whale was a Humpback, and others declare that it
is impossible to say what it was, and the matter still remains uncertain.