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- Nov 19, 2002
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Whale # 10 was the first whale stomach we ever received, back in good-old 2002. This male stranded early (7am) 28 November 2002 on the southern side of Mahia Peninsula, NZ. The stomach contents were retreived for us by Debbie Freeman of New Zealand's Department of Conservation.
Like 'Whale's 1-6 and 8 and 9', as far as I know (to the best of my efforts), every squid beak in the stomach was retained (I've yet to count the upper beaks). The identifications must be treated as provisional, and a number of the beaks have proven quite a challenge to identify. As for other beaks identifications in other whales, 'Octopoteuthis/Lepidoteuthis'), cranchiids, and this time Histioteuthids prove quite diverse, and sometimes problematic.
There's a lot of work to do yet on this stomach - a lot of checking of identifications. Nevertheless, I don't expect too many changes. I'm putting it online now because it's real interesting, and sparked the thread 'squid beaks from whale stomachs' so long ago.
If you like you can look at the squid composition of this whale, compare it to that of the previous lot, and try and make some sense out of the jigsaw (again based on what we know of the New Zealand and adjacent water mass squid faunas). I've not provided lower rostral lengths for the beaks, as I've yet to measure them.
Identifications are based on lower beaks.
Here goes:
Whale # 10, male, ~ 13m, stranded 28 November 2002, Mahia Peninsula (East Coast North Island, NZ).
Number of upper beaks: TBD
Number of lower beaks: 409
Number of extensively damaged/unidentified beaks: TBD (~ 20)
Lower beak-determined squid composition in diet of Sperm Whale # 10
Architeuthis dux: 5
Pholidoteuthis boschmai: 8
'Octopoteuthis' sp.: 9
'Lepidoteuthis grimaldii': 5
Taningia danae: 10
Moroteuthis 'ingens': 35
Moroteuthis 'knipovitchi': 9
Moroteuthis robsoni: 17
?Kondakovia longimana: 1 (extensively damaged, large)
Histioteuthis cf. eltaninae: 162
Histioteuthis miranda: 28
Histioteuthis sp. A5 (sensu Clarke): 17
Histioteuthis spp.: 8
Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni: 28
Cranchiid Type 1: 7
Cranchiid Type 2: 7
Cranchiid Type 3: 3
Cranchiid Type 4: 9
Cranchiid Type 5: 11
Chiroteuthis sp.: 3
Gonatus sp.: 18
Mastigoteuthis sp.1: 1
Mastigoteuthis sp. 2: 4
Haliphron atlanticus: 4
A lot more could be said about this one. See the 'squid beak variation (and stuff)' thread; the smallest Architeuthis beak thus far, and series of Mesonychoteuthis beaks recovered from this whale are depicted in this thread.
Like 'Whale's 1-6 and 8 and 9', as far as I know (to the best of my efforts), every squid beak in the stomach was retained (I've yet to count the upper beaks). The identifications must be treated as provisional, and a number of the beaks have proven quite a challenge to identify. As for other beaks identifications in other whales, 'Octopoteuthis/Lepidoteuthis'), cranchiids, and this time Histioteuthids prove quite diverse, and sometimes problematic.
There's a lot of work to do yet on this stomach - a lot of checking of identifications. Nevertheless, I don't expect too many changes. I'm putting it online now because it's real interesting, and sparked the thread 'squid beaks from whale stomachs' so long ago.
If you like you can look at the squid composition of this whale, compare it to that of the previous lot, and try and make some sense out of the jigsaw (again based on what we know of the New Zealand and adjacent water mass squid faunas). I've not provided lower rostral lengths for the beaks, as I've yet to measure them.
Identifications are based on lower beaks.
Here goes:
Whale # 10, male, ~ 13m, stranded 28 November 2002, Mahia Peninsula (East Coast North Island, NZ).
Number of upper beaks: TBD
Number of lower beaks: 409
Number of extensively damaged/unidentified beaks: TBD (~ 20)
Lower beak-determined squid composition in diet of Sperm Whale # 10
Architeuthis dux: 5
Pholidoteuthis boschmai: 8
'Octopoteuthis' sp.: 9
'Lepidoteuthis grimaldii': 5
Taningia danae: 10
Moroteuthis 'ingens': 35
Moroteuthis 'knipovitchi': 9
Moroteuthis robsoni: 17
?Kondakovia longimana: 1 (extensively damaged, large)
Histioteuthis cf. eltaninae: 162
Histioteuthis miranda: 28
Histioteuthis sp. A5 (sensu Clarke): 17
Histioteuthis spp.: 8
Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni: 28
Cranchiid Type 1: 7
Cranchiid Type 2: 7
Cranchiid Type 3: 3
Cranchiid Type 4: 9
Cranchiid Type 5: 11
Chiroteuthis sp.: 3
Gonatus sp.: 18
Mastigoteuthis sp.1: 1
Mastigoteuthis sp. 2: 4
Haliphron atlanticus: 4
A lot more could be said about this one. See the 'squid beak variation (and stuff)' thread; the smallest Architeuthis beak thus far, and series of Mesonychoteuthis beaks recovered from this whale are depicted in this thread.