Cape Breton's Magazine

Killer Whale9 Orcinus or-' are not very many in the and died in the ice 3 roaming herds like bably migrate but only whale is the cat about 20 feet. Foimd in all oceans. Beamish: 'There northwestern Atlantic but certainly some. Two were trapped 'years ago. We don't know about migrating. They are more wolves. They attack and hunt in herds, or pods. They pro- conjunction with their food." Sergeant: "The killer only v *Lale which eats other whales and seals.... It also eats fish and scavenges round ships for ftf- fal. It is hardy and re? mains in cold waters until driven out by ice...and 'probably moves north for the most part in summer with its prey. Pilot Whale, ''''''' Globicephala melaena. a- the temperate North Atlantic and south- They commonly summer in coastal waters from Cape Bre-' ton north to southern Labrador and in the Gulf. They are ter? ritorial and while 'y/not the most com- i' mon in total number, B''T- they axe the most commonly seen Breton. It's food is squid as long as it can get it, and move they will follow. Those that remain eat what squid they There is a large group??=it may be 2 or 3 pods • the fisher- Bay but they work the whole of the Northumberland Strait. Atlantic White-sided Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus acutus. about 7 the temperate North Atlantic. A very common animal probab<* the thousands. They are generally called por- because they don't have beaks, but they are an ocean dolphin • an off-shore animal. They eat pelagic fish • herring, mackerel, capelin • and they follow these schools. >ut 20 feet. Found in ern hemisphere. around Cape when the squid 'can find and cod. linen see in George's feet. Found in numbering in White Beaked Dolphin about 9-11 feet. In ish: **They Islands. Lag enorhynchus albirostris' temperate to boreal waters of the North Atlantic. Beam- call them jumpers off Newfoundland and Magdalen I've seen hundreds of them in the Gulf. They come out of the water at high speeds at a- bout a 45-degree angle • so they look real- '''' ly spectacular. They may be playing or ''atching fish at the air/water interface. Common Dolphin, Delphinus ''''elphis, about 6-9 feet. Found in ' temperal to tropical waters of most o- '''ceans. Quite common around' Cape Breton and will come close and ride the bow wave ' ' of a boat, which acutis and albriostris probably won't. Common or Harbour 5 feeto Found in in the northern Puffing Pigs. Her-. but commonly takes squid and pollock. Porpoise, Phocoe' na phocoena' about coastal temperate to boreal waters hemisphere. Also known locally as _ ring is the principal food item. It migrates to outside waters of the continental shelf. This is a very small and very skittish creature • very difficult to 5et near • and thus very difficult to study in the field. Physeter catodon, length to 60 feet. Found in all "home...is tropical and su Sergeant says, iropical seas, where mixed herds of animals of all sizes, bulls, cows and calves, are to be found....Herds of bulls, of fairly uniform size (40 to 60 ft), travel northward in loose groups which reach at least mid-Labrador in summer." This is a deep-water, open ocean creature with a wide, wide range. Second only as a long diver to the North Atlantic Bottlenose Whale. Eats squid, deep sea fish and other bottom fish. It feeds all along the edge of the continental shelf and it's reported in the Gulf where it's quite deep. Mitchell estimates 22,000 in the North Atlantic. Drawings by Bonnie Dalzell and Betty Osborne under the direction of Edward Mitchell.