T H E L E S S E R RO RQU A L
Balcenoptera acuto-rostrata, Lac£pede.
Balcena rostrata, Fabricius, ‘ Fauna Groenlandica,’ p. 40 (1780).1
Balcenoptera acuto-rostrata, Lac^pede, ‘ Hist. Nat. des C6t.’ p. 134 (1804).
Rorqualus minor; Knox, ‘ Jardine’s Nat.. Lib.’ vol. xxvi. p. 142 (1844).
Balcenoptera rostrata, Gray, ‘ Erebus and T e r r o r p. 50 (1846).
Local Names.— L esser Fm ner, L esser Finback, L ittle P ik e d Whale, Sp rat Whale,2 Sharp -
headed F in n er, ‘ Young F in ba ck’ (E ng lish); Vaagehval’ M in kie's H v a l3 (Norwegian);
T ik a g u lik (Greenland Esquimaux).
Characters.— Length twenty-five to thirty feet. The size is small, but the
form is thickset, with the head narrow and pointed. As in the last-named species,
the dorsal fin is high, strongly recurved, and placed somewhat far forward just in
advance of the line of the anus. The throat and abdominal ridges are numerous
and close together. Upper parts of the body brownish grey above; lower parts
white; mandible grey; pectoral fins grey at the base and tip, but with the middle
third white; length of pectorals about four feet; flukes of tail dark grey above,
white below; nasals large and triangular; baleen yellowish white. Scammon gives
the number at 270, but Collett, who is probably more correct, says there are 325.*
Distribution.— The Lesser Rorqual is an Arctic species frequenting the coasts
of Scandinavia, Great Britain, Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland.
The northern parts of Britain and Newfoundland seem to be its southern limit
in the summer months. Of its winter movements and habitat we know very
little. In the Pacific there is a closely allied form known as Balcenoptera
davidsoni, which is probably the same species as the Lesser Rorqual of the
1 Antedated by Muller’s Balana rostrata (Hyperoddon rostratuni).
* Mr. Southwell says (Ann. Scot. Nat. H ist. April 1904, p. 88), ‘ This species feeds on small fish, and is known by our
fish«»rmpn as the “ Sprat Whale." ’ I doubt very much whether this species devours fish to any extent.
8 Minkin was a Norwegian seaman who was always calling ‘ Hval ’ at whatever backfin he saw. He is now regarded as
the type of the * tenderfoot ’ at sea. Norwegians often refer to any small Whale with some contempt or amusement as a
‘ Minkie,’ or ‘ Minkie’s hval.’
* Sir William Turner, who published an elaborate descnption (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. p. 36, 1891-1892) of a specimen
that came ashore at Granton, gives the length of the longest plate of baleen as 8£ inches, breadth at base, 3 inches.