Vertebra 31



Vertebra 31 in anterior view.

I now have a copy of Whales of the World by Spencer Wilkie Tinker, published in 1988 from which the following information is mostly derived.  Vertebra 31 is one of the caudal (tail) vertebra - the last of them that I have.  This is it in anterior view with the two facets (flattened bits) for the attachment of the chevron bones visible at the bottom.  Caudal vertebrae are identifiable as such by the presence of these paired facets.  The lumbar (back) vertebrae have a single "inferior carina" (or ridge) which widens towards the posterior (tail end) of the last one (more on these later).  I have 7 caudal vertebrae in total, one could expect 28 or 29 of these in a Long-finned Pilot Whale so I am few short.  The whale with the fewest caudal vertebrae seems to be the Pigmy Right Whale (Capera marginata) which has about 15 and that with the most is the La Plata River Dolphin (Phocoenoides dalli) which has about 48.

In The Begining

This blog will outline the adventures of 31 whale vertebrae that were found by Trevor Potts at Swordle Bay, Ardnamurchan, Scotland some time during 2007.  These vertebrae have not yet been identified but were given to me at the end of May 2013.

I have posted a picture of them here.  This is the order they were when I got them, as strung up by Trevor.  Trevor had hung them on this rope on some racking since he found them.

I have since re-located them to Bedfordshire, slightly re-ordered them, numbered them and mounted them temporarily on a steel bar in my garden; all save one (#31) which is on a shelf in the lving room.

I have a licence from Natural England to possess these bones.

So far bone #31 has been shown to several of my friends and family and been brought into work to show folks.

I am considering my options for maximising the display opportunities for these bones and getting the most people to be able to see them and learn from them.

Meanwhile my attempts to identify them are not going too well.  It is my suspicion that they are from a long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) but I have yet to find a good description, including sizees of the vertebrae of this species.