Bryde's whale: Difference between revisions

In 1878, the Scottish zoologist [[John Anderson (zoologist)|John Anderson]], first curator of the [[Indian Museum, Kolkata|Indian Museum]] in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], described ''Balaenoptera edeni'', naming it after the former British High Commissioner in [[Burma]], Sir [[Ashley Eden]], who helped obtain the type specimen. Eden's Deputy Commissioner, Major A.G. Duff, sent a Mr Duke, one of his assistants, to Thaybyoo Creek, between the [[Sittaung River|Sittang]] and Beeling Rivers, on the [[Gulf of Martaban]], where he found a 37-foot whale, which had stranded there in June 1871 after swimming more than 20 miles up the creek—it was said to have "exhausted itself by its furious struggles" to get free and "roared like an elephant" before finally expiring. Despite terrible weather, he was able to secure almost the entire skull and nearly all its vertebrae, along with other bones. These were sent to Anderson, who described the specimen, which was physically mature, as a new species.<ref name=Anderson>Anderson, J. (1878). Anatomical and Zoological Researches: Comprising an Account of the Zoological Results of the Two Expeditions to Western Yunnan in 1868 and 1875; and a Monograph of the Two Cetacean Genera, ''Platanista'' and ''Orcaella''. ''Quaritch'' London.</ref> In 1913, the Norwegian scientist Ørjan Olsen, based on the examination of a dozen "sei whales" brought to the whaling stations at [[Durban]] and [[Saldanha Bay|Saldanha]], in South Africa, described ''Balaenoptera brydei'', naming it after the Norwegian consul to South Africa Johan Bryde.<ref name="Olsen">{{cite journal | last1 = Olsen | first1 = Ørjan | year = 1913 | title =On the external characters and biology of Bryde's Whale (''Baloenoptera brydei''), a new Rorqual from the coast of South Africa | journal = Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London | volume = 1913 | pages = 1073–1090 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/70344#/summary |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1913.tb02005.x}}</ref> In 1950, the Dutch scientist G.C.A. Junge, after comparing specimens of ''B. edeni'' and ''B. brydei'' with a 39-foot, physically mature specimen that had stranded on Pulau Sugi, an island between [[Singapore]] and [[Sumatra]], in July 1936, synonymized the two species into ''B. edeni''.<ref name=Anderson /><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Junge | first1 = G.C.A. | year = 1950 | title = On a specimen of the rare fin whale, ''Balaenoptera edeni'' Anderson, stranded on Pulu Sugi near Singapore | url = http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/148868 | journal = Zoologische Verhandelingen | volume = 9 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–26 }}</ref>

''B. brydei'' occurs throughout the Indian Ocean north of about [[35th parallel south|35°S]]. Those of the southern Indian Ocean appear to correspond to ''B. brydei'', as do the individuals illegally caught by the Soviets in the 1960s in the northwest Indian Ocean, as well as the [[Maldives]]. Individuals sighted in the [[Red Sea]] may or may not be ''B. brydei''.<ref name=IUCN /><ref name=Masseti>{{cite journal |last1=Masseti |first1=Marco |title=The mammals of the Farasan archipelago, Saudi Arabia |journal=Turkish Journal of Zoology |date=6 August 2010 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=359–365 |url=https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/zoology/abstract.htm?id=10978|doi=10.3906/zoo-0905-2|doi-access=free }}</ref>