SHORT-FINNED PILOT WHALE (T)
Globicephala macrorhynchus Gray 1846
Other Common Names
Blackfish (see also p. [84], [91], and [94]).
Description
Male short-finned pilot whales of the western North Atlantic reach lengths of at least 17.5 feet (5.3 m). Females are reportedly slightly smaller than males (recorded only to 15.5 feet [4.7 m]).
The head, somewhat like that of the Atlantic pilot whales (p. [91]), is thick and bulbous, a characteristic which reaches its extreme in the development of a flattened or squarish appearance to the front of the head in mature males (see Fig. 101). In very old males the melon may overhang the mouth up to several inches. The flippers are shorter than those of the other pilot whale species of the western North Atlantic (thus the common name short-finned pilot whale), reaching only one-sixth of the body length or less. The tail is dorsoventrally thickened just in front of the flukes.