. Discovery reports. Discovery (Ship); Scientific expeditions; Ocean; Antarctica; Falkland Islands. THE FOOD OF WHALES 361 FOOD The food of whales is principally the concern of the ships employed in the investi- gations, for it is only by operations at sea that it can be effectively studied. A certain amount of information, however, is to be had from the examination of the stomach contents of the whales at the whaling stations. The species which constitute the whale's food can be determined, and a rough idea can be formed of the fluctuations in abundance and types of "krill" which oc
. Discovery reports. Discovery (Ship); Scientific expeditions; Ocean; Antarctica; Falkland Islands. THE FOOD OF WHALES 361 FOOD The food of whales is principally the concern of the ships employed in the investi- gations, for it is only by operations at sea that it can be effectively studied. A certain amount of information, however, is to be had from the examination of the stomach contents of the whales at the whaling stations. The species which constitute the whale's food can be determined, and a rough idea can be formed of the fluctuations in abundance and types of "krill" which occur on the whaling grounds. The whales caught at South Georgia (excluding the Sperm whale) feed exclusively on Eiiphaiisia superba (Fig. 100) and have no other food whatever in their stomachs apart from a few specimens of the Amphipod Euthemisto, which is so abundant in the plankton round South Georgia that the whales can hardly help swallowing a certain Fig. 100. Outline sketch of Euphausia superba (:â : i| approx.). Off the South African coast the little food in the stomachs was found to include Eiiphausia recurva, E. liicens and Nyctiphanes africamis, species which grow to a length of less than i in. Doubtless all species of Euphausian occurring in the locality are consumed without discrimination. One or two Humpbacks and one of the Fin whales examined at Saldanha Bay had fish in their stomachs. Sperm whales were feeding on cuttlefish, some of which appeared to have been of considerable size. The question of the migrations of whales has not yet been referred to, but it may be mentioned here that there is a general movement northwards into warmer waters for breeding during the southern winter and southwards for feeding during the southern summer. Little food is available in the lower latitudes, but in certain parts of the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters Euphausia superba flourishes in immense quantities. It is to be found in dense shoals usually in the neighbou
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