Records of Lancashire Cetacea

Abstract

As records of Lancashire cetaceans are few, I thought it worth recording that when told of a 'big porpoise' washed up on the west Lancashire coast at Birkdale, Southport, on September 23, 1942, I identified it as a young male bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus Montagu) and took the following measurements: length 105 in., flippers 14 in., tail flukes 21 in. across, girth of body 50 in., depth of body 22 in., 'bottle nose' extension of upper jaw 5 in., 22 pairs of teeth in upper jaw, and probably same in lower but a few were removed by souvenirhunters. Upper parts black, also flippers ; underparts pale grey. The only previous Lancashire record I can trace was a specimen stranded at Walney Island on August 8, 1917¹.