Cephalopod remains from sperm whales caught off Iceland

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONThis analysis of cephalopod remains, particularly the mandibles or beaks, from sperm whales caught off Iceland is one of a series made by the authors on remains from various geographical regions including Madeira (Clarke, 1962a), Spain (Clarke & MacLeod, 1974), Western South America (Clarke, MacLeod & Paliza, 1976, South Africa, Western Australia, the Antarctic and the South Atlantic (Clarke, 1976, 1977). Other workers have described similar collections from New Zealand (Gaskell & Cawthorne, 1967; see also Clarke, 1976, 1977) and the North Pacific (Akimushkin, 1954; Betesheva & Akimushkin, 1955; Tarasevich, 1963). The present analysis has depended upon a development in the technique of identification of cephalopod lower beaks from an early search for criteria (Clarke, 19626) to a point where many species can be identified from lower beaks (Mangold & Fioroni, 1966; Iversen & Pinkas, 1971; Clarke, 1977).