The Whales and Dolphins of Washington State with a Key to the Cetaceans of the West Coast of North America

Abstract

Aborigines captured whales off the Washington coast by various methods. A whaling station was operated from 1911 to 1925, taking a total of 2,698 whales. These spp. are recorded from the State Berardius bairdii (?), Mesoplodon stenegeri, Delphinus bairdii (?), Lissodelphis borealis, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens, Grampus rectipinna, Pseudorca crassidens, Glo-bicephala scammonii, Phocoena vomerina, Phocoenoides dalli, Delphinapterus leucas (?), Physeter catodon, Kogia breviceps, Rhachianectes glaucus, Balaenoptera physalus, B borealis, B acutorostrata, Sibbaldus musculus, Megaptera novaeangliae, Eubalaena sieboldii (?). The commonest cetaceans in enclosed waters are the harbor porpoise, the killer whale, the striped dolphin, and the little piked whale. 30 spp. are known, some of them doubtfully, from the west coast.