WHALE ON THE SHORE

 

 

 

A Bryde’s Whale was dragged accidentally onto the shore of Digha by the fishing trawlers. the entire sequence of events was painfull.... the tragic accident that took place underneath the sea ( Bay of Bengal) had shaken the sensibilities of the coastal community. The  video clip tries to portray what may have happened under the sea.......... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scientific information about Bryde’s  Whale

Family: Balaenopteridae, Order: Cetacea, Class : Mammalia

Scientific name : Balaenoptera edneni Anderson, 1878

                               Balaenoptera  brydei

Morpho-taxonomic characters:

Head ‘V-shaped’, three prominent ridges on the head anterior to blowhole, forty five ventral pleats / throat- furrows extend up to naval/umbilicus,  baleen fringes coarse, stiff and thick.

Total length is 41.4 ft (curved measurement), matured male, dorsal fin moderate in size and located posterior one-third of back and black in colour., pectoral flippers oblong and black in colour, tail fluke horizontally flattened and grey in colour.

From literature:   

Average weight about 13.6ton, group size is 1-7 individuals, baleen is 42x24cm in size, 230-370 plates on each side, 15-35 bristles per sq.cm, female is slightly larger than male

Food: Krills, bonito and cephalopods

Distribution: Generally found in tropical and warm temperate waters of the world (between 40°N and 40°S latitude), both off and close to the shore. Recorded from Sri Lanka (Trincomalee and Koddiyar Bay), Arabian Sea off Pakisthan, Persian Gulff and Bay of Bengal during 1977-87).

Threats : It has been subjected to coastal whaling off Peru, Chile, S. Africa, Japan, USSR etc., and pelagic whaling in N. Pacific and S. Atlantic.

Commercial value: Oil,meat, blubber and collagen peptide are of commercial use. About 1.660 tonne of oil and 9.3 tonne of usable products were obtained from one animal.