. California fish and game. Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons. GRAY WHALE CENSUS 141 In the lagoons, gray whales often jump (breach) nearly clear of the water and crash back into the water sometimes on their backs. Often they jump two or more times in sequence with periods of 10 or more seconds separating breaches. I recorded the number of breaches in se- quence in Scammon Lagoon on 74 occasions and found that the grays usually jumped one to three times in sequence though one individual jumped 11
. California fish and game. Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons. GRAY WHALE CENSUS 141 In the lagoons, gray whales often jump (breach) nearly clear of the water and crash back into the water sometimes on their backs. Often they jump two or more times in sequence with periods of 10 or more seconds separating breaches. I recorded the number of breaches in se- quence in Scammon Lagoon on 74 occasions and found that the grays usually jumped one to three times in sequence though one individual jumped 11 times (Figure 4). This propensity for jumping has been an important factor in attracting a large clientele of whale watchers. Mortality Relative mortality of calf and adult whales was estimated from samples of carcasses. Remains of 12 whales that died in 1970 were located on the islands in the lagoon or on beaches immediately outside the entrance. Ten of the 12 carcasses (83%) were calves. In 1973, only six fresh carcasses (all calves) were found. Approximately the same areas were surveyed during 1970 and 1973. When samples from the 2 years were combined, 16 of 18 carcasses (89%) were calves. Size and texture of tympanoperiotic bones collected in 1970 and 1973 were used to separate calves from adults and provided a second method of determining relative mortality. Length was defined as the maximum dimension with the long axis of the bone held parallel to the shaft of the calipers. Ear bones attached to skeletons could be grouped in pairs, but the majority of the bones were collected singly and could not be paired. Therefore, the length of each bone was recorded. Adult bones are large and rough compared to calf bones. Twenty-two bones in the sample of 224 were 101 mm ( inches) in length and longer and were judged to be adult on the basis of size and texture (Figure 5). All of the 202 bones 100 mm in length and shorter (90%. of the sample) were considered to have come from c
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