T H E W H IT E -B E A K E D D O L P H IN
Lagenorkynchus a lbiro stris, Gray.
Lagenorkynchus albirostris, Gray, ‘ Ann. Mag. N a t H i s t ’ vol. xvii. p. 84 (1846).
Local Names.— W hite-leaked D olphin. Scoulter (English); W hite-leak (Norwegian Whalers);
Hvidnosen (Norwegian).
Characters.— The forehead in this species is more prominent and the beak
more pronounced than in L . acutus. The dorsal fin is not so • erect, and the
pectoral fins are larger. The forehead, except at its base, back and fins are black
with a purplish sheen; the sides are greyish black, and the under parts white.
The base of the forehead, beak and mandible are white, but sometimes they are
shaded with grey. There are, says Dr. True, ‘ three irregular areas of white on
each side, one of which is above the pectoral fin, the second below the insertion
of the anterior margin of the dorsal fin, and the third below the insertion of the
posterior margin of the same; all considerably mottled with black, grey, and
brown. A similar light area in the median line of the back behind the blowhole
and another on the tail, near the insertion of the flukes; under side of the fluke
greyish.’ 1 These light areas, as Dr. True mentions, are by no means constant,
for most of the examples taken in our Islands do not exhibit them. There are
26 pairs of teeth in both jaws. Vertebrae:— C. 7 ; D. 15 or 16; L. 23 or 24;
Ca. 43 or 45=88 or 92. Adults measure from 7 to 9 ft. 8 in., and as in the
last species the males are somewhat larger than the females. Guldberg and
Nansen give for large Norwegian examples— male, 2*98 metres: females 274
metres.
Distribution.— The White-beaked Dolphin is a North Atlantic species; it is
found off the coast of Greenland (Reinhardt) and in Davis Straits (Eschricht); it
is common off the coast of Norway, both in the north and south, and occurs in
the Baltic; it is a common species near the Faroes. It has been recorded from
Denmark and Belgium (Ostend), and is by no means rare in the North Sea, and
B u ll. 36, U.S. Nat. Mus. pp. 171, 172.
quite a number have been recorded from the east coasts of Scotland and England;
it has also been taken on the west coast and in Ireland.
The following are the records, so far as I know them, but it must be
remembered that many Cetaceans are only recorded in local papers, and that
numbers are either unidentified or incorrectly identified.
The records of the capture of this species do not represent its real status;
it is a fairly common visitor to the shores of East Scotland and to England.
In the Cambridge Museum there is the skull of an animal which was killed
at Hartlepool in 1834. In October 1845 a White-beaked Dolphin— described as
D. tursio— was captured off Yarmouth.1 On December 29, 1862, a female was
stranded on Little Hilbre, at the mouth of the Cheshire Dee.2 Mr. H. M. Upcher
shot one at Cromer in 1866, and a specimen, a male, in the British Museum, is
labelled as having been taken on the English coast in 1867. In 1870 or 1871 one
was taken on the south coast of England. A female is recorded from Grimsby,
taken in September 1875.3 In March 1876 a male was killed at Lowestoft.8 On
August 25, 1879, a young female was brought into Yarmouth,4 and another of
the same sex on March 22, 1880.6 In 1879 Dr. Harmer received a fine adult at
the Cambridge Museum, which had been captured at Ramsgate, and he informs
me that he has had several in the flesh. One was captured alive forty miles
off Yarmouth, on September 10, 1881,6 and another taken near Lowestoft in
1886.7 Mr. H. Laver described one which was captured in the Colne in 1889.8
The following records are given by Mr. A. Patterson9:— Gorleston, 1890;
Yarmouth, 1891; Breydon, August 30, 1891; and Caistor, Yarmouth, several, on
September 16, 1891 ; Yarmouth, June 13, 1894. Since then he has recorded
another, brought into the same town on July 12, 1902.10
In Scotland the Bell Rock example has often been said to be the earliest
record, but one which was taken in the Clyde in September 1879 was really the
first recorded.11 On September 11, 1880, one was captured near the Bell Rock.12
Sir William Turner gives the following18:— Berwick, July 1881 and August 1883;
Sutherland, 1882. Two, an adult female and a young male, at Stonehaven, July
1888. On September 1, 1894, a female containing a foetus four feet long was
1 Ann. Mag. Nat. H ist, vol xvii. p. 21 (1846). 9 Ibid. 1863, p. 268. 3 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1876, pp. 679-691.
* Zoologist, 1879, p. 421. 5 Ibid. 1880, p. 220. 6 Ibid. 1881, p. 420.
7 Ibid. 1886, p. 364. 8 Essex Nat. 1889, p. 169. 9 Nature in Eastern Norfolk, pp. 322, 323.
10 Zoologist, 1902, p. 390. 11 Proc. Roy. Phy. Soc. Edin. vol. x. p. 14 (1891).
12 Nat. H ist. Soc. Glasgow, Nov. 30, 1880, and Zoologist, 1881, pp. 23, 41.
13 Proc. Roy. Phy. Soc. Edin. vol. x. p. 14 (1891).