PYGMY RIGHT WHALE Caperea marginata

To distinguish it from the Great Right Whale, we call this species the Pygmy Right WhaleDescription: Medium length averages about 5 m (16 ft) for both sexes, with a maximum recorded of6.4 m (21 ft); calves are about 2 m (6.5 ft) at birth. Weight averages about 4,500 kg (5 tons).
This is the smallest baleen whale, with a bow to the jaw like that of the Great Right Whale (Balaena glacialis 1), a distinct neck and a head roughly 25 per cent of body length. It is much thinner and more streamlined than the other members of the family and, unlike them, has a dorsal fin. This is small, triangular, recurved and set back two-thirds of the way to the tail. The flippers are narrow and slightly rounded at the tip and the flukes are broad with a well-formed notch. There are no callosities but there are two marked eye folds which look like dark bruises. A further unusual feature for this genus is the 2 clearly marked throat grooves. These escaped scientific notice until a live whale was filmed underwater in South Africa in 1967. As it swam and turned and showed the true convexity of its throat, the grooves became visibk for the first time. They are almost certainly forerunners of the longer grooves found in the Grey Whale and the complex furrows which give the rorqual whales such enormous throat expansion. The fact that they went unnoticed for a century clearly illustrates the limitation of studies based only on beached whales in which decomposition has produced distortion, or, in the Russian case, on freshly caught animals which had been inflated with an air hose.

The general colour is a deep blue grey, lighter beneath, with a darker band from the flipper to the eye and a lighter grey halter line across the back behind and between the flippers
Field Identification: Pygmy Right Whales are slow moving and inconspicuous and may be very much more common than is suggested by the few isolated live sightings.
The blowholes are paired, but the spout is barely visible and has no distinct shape. The whale tends to throw its snout up out of the water when breathing and spends only seconds at the surface before sinking out of sight, often without showing the back or fin at all. There are normally about 50 seconds between blows. Dives, which tend to be shallow, last 3-4 minutes. The tail flukes are not normally visible and no Pygmy Right Whale has ever been seen to leap or breach.
The swimming speed is slow, usually about 5 kph (3 knots) but the motion is peculiar. When these whales can be seen through or from below the surface, they move with an undulating wavelike pattern.
The most likely source of confusion is between the Pygmy Right Whale and the Piked Whale (Balaenoptera acuto¬rostrata 7):
Caperea seldom shows fin when breathing; back also seldom seen; flipper dark; rounded head; shy.
Balaenoptera shows fin when breathing; back humped when diving; white patch on flipper; sharp head; attracted to ships.
Pygmy Right Whales have been seen together with Shortfin Pilot Whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus 50) and Sei Whales (Balaenoptera borealis 8).
Stranding Until recently this whale was known only from about 40 strandings on beaches in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Falklands.
On a recently beached animal the best sources of identifica¬tion lie in the mouth. The baleen plates are ivory coloured, with a dark rim on the outer edge. They are about 70 cm (28 inches) long, slender and elastic with a very soft fine fringe. There is an average of 230 plates on each side of the jaw. The tongue is pure white and strangely feathered at the tip.
The skull is recognizably that of a baleen whale, with a lower jaw proportionately stronger and heavier than in any other species. The skeleton is most peculiar. Pygmy Right Whales have more ribs than any other whale; there are 17 pairs, and the ones nearest the tail have become extraordi¬narily wide and flat, presumably to provide additional protec¬tion to the internal organs, though it is not clear why this should have become necessary. As usual the first 7 vertebrae are fused, but the total number of 40-41 is less than in both species of Balaena. In addition the skeleton of the flipper is odd in having only 4 digits or phalanges instead of the more usual 5.
Natural History Hardly anything is known. Soviet whalers killed a few specimens for scientific purposes in the South Atlantic in 1970, from which we have learned little more than that their stomachs contained unidentified species of the tiny crustacean Calanus. On the few occasions these whales have been seen alive, they have been found, usually in pairs, in shallow bays. There is one sighting of 8 individuals together. Calves seem to be born in September or October and may suckle until they are 3.6 m (11 ft) in length.

Status It seems likely that difficulties in sighting and identification have made this species seem rarer than it actually is, but its status is unknown.

Distribution This whale's distribution is circumpolar in the southern hemisphere only, north of the Antarctic convergence and almost entirely south of a line which marks the limit of water cooler than 20De.
Pygmy Right Whales are known so far from the Falkland Islands, the South Atlantic, South Africa, Crozet Island, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand.