STUDIES ON THE OIL OF BLACK RIGHT WHALE IN THE NORTHERN PACIFIC OCEAN HIDEO TSUYUKI* AND lJHEI NARUSE** INTRODUCTION A number of studies have been made in whale oil from olden time. However, the oil of black right whale, Eubalaena glacialis, has almost remained unexplored to this day. Because, our ancestors had caught a number of black right whales, so that we have all the world over been stopped to catch them for keeping of their resource. The works studied on whale oils were chiefly concerned with its physical­ chemical properties. But only a little work was made in the study of the oils con­ tained in various parts of a whale body and component fatty acids. These works seems to be important from the view points of fat metabolism in whale bodies and the utilization of whale oils. Regarding the differences in the characteristics of the oils contained in various parts of a whale body, Drs. M. Saiki and T. Mori1 >- 3 >, and Messrs. H. Watanabe 4 5 and K. Suzuki » > studied several kinds of whales. Reviewing the works done on the black right whale oil, we have merely been reported by Dr. M. Saiki. 6 > He studied the chemical characteristics of the oils contained in some blubbers of black right whale, which had been caught 102 miles 80° off " Kinkazan " (Miyagi pre­ fecture in the north-eastern part of Japan) on 23rd May, 1956. However, this work was very simple, so that we can say that we have no sufficient work on the differences in the characteristics of the oils contained in various parts of a black right whale body. Further, as to the study on the component fatty acids of the black right whale oil, we have not been reported yet. The writers were fortunate enough to obtain the oils in various blubbers, meats and viscera of three black right whales and examine their properties in­ cluding component fatty acids. The authors wish to express their thanks to the Whales Research Institute for presenting the experimental materials of three black right whales and for kind co-operation and assistance. They also wish to express their appreciation to Presi­ dent Dr. H. Omura, Dr. M. Nishiwaki, Mr. S. Osumi in the Whales Research Institute and Prof. Dr. A. Shionoya in Nihon University for their kind advices. EXPERIMENTS AND RESULTS I The present experiment was carried out with three black right whales7 >, which were * Department of Food Engineering, College of Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine, Nihon University, 49, 3- chome, Shimouma-cho, Setagaya, Tokyo **Dept. of Fisheries, Coll. of Agr. & Vet. Med., Nihon Univ. 171 172 H. TSUYUKI AND U. NARUSE caught in southern sea of Kodiak Island (N 55°53' ,--._,54', W 153°4' "'6') on the 22nd August, 1961 by the" Kyokuyomaru" Fleet (Fig. 1). Sex, presumptive age and body length of three whales are shown in Table 1. Catching :;oint I ssss§S§ .,..... • 50 N ---'--------L---------'--- i6o" ;: Fig. I. Catching place of black right whale in the Northern Pacific Ocean d c e b a f p g Fig. 2. Various blubbers and meats of black right whale a) Brain blubber. b) Blow-hole blubber. c) Blubber of hind part of blow-hole. d) Back meat. e) Middle back blubber. f) Posterior back blubber. g) Blubber of" Dendo" in Japanese. h) Thoracic meat (" Munaita" in Japanese). i) Anterior abdominal blubber. j) Thoracic blubber. k) Umbilicus blubber. 1) Abdominal blubber. m) Blubber of fore part of genital aperture. n) Genital aperture blubber. o) Anus blubber. p) Tail fluckes blubber. These whales were treated on the boat immediately after catching as follows: At first, they were dissected and divided into various meats, blubbers (Fig. 2) and organs. Each portion was immediately refrigerated at -20°C. Returning to port, OIL OF BLACK RIGHT WHALE 173 these materials described above were sent to the laboratory. In the laboratory, the oils contained in various blubbers were obtained by boiling these blubbers in water. On the other hand, the oils in various meats and organs were extracted with acetone in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas. The specific gravity, refractive index, acid value, saponification value and unsaponifiable material content ( %) of the obtained oils were measured in the usual manner and the iodine value was determined by the Wijs method. The results obtained are shown in Tables 2""10. TABLE I. DETAILS OF BLACK RIGHT WHALES, EUBALAENA GLACIALIS Whale No. Sex Presumptive age Body length (m.) A Male More than 12 17.1 B Male More than 12 17.0 c Male More than 9 15.1 TABLE 2. PROPERTIES OF THE OILS CONTAINED IN VARIOUS BLUBBERS AND MEATS OF BLACK RIGHT WHALE A Unsapon. Parts Oil content d15 Acid Sapon. Iodine n~ 4 value value value material (%) content(%) Brain blubber 56.31 1.4765 0.9183 0.3 188.3 134.7 0.64 54.48 1.4715 0.9175 0.6 189.5 131.2 0.81 Blubber of hind part of blow-hole 55.57 1.4755 0.9216 0.1 194.1 125.9 0.84 57.95 1.4745 0.9230 0.2 193.6 123.7 0.79 Middle back meat 66.73 1.4745 0.9246 0.7 188.2 137.3 0.98 70.80 1.4735 0.9231 1.0 187.9 143.7 0.91 68.21 1.4760 0.9229 1.2 188.4 139.l J.12 Posterior back meat 60.31 1.4706 0.9119 0.7 193.5 124.7 0.73 63.42 1.4745 0.9190 0.5 194.3 122.4 0.77 66.59 1.4735 0.9182 " 0.5 193.5 126.6 0.88 64.87 1.4725 0.9189 0.3 191.9 129.9 0.91 Thoracic meat 42.98 1.4740 0.9233 0.7 192.7 121.4 0.62 45.56 1.4723 0.9249 0.9 194.1 122.2 0.80 Anterior abdominal blubber 53.39 1.4751 0.9255 0.3 192.2 130.3 1.02 Abdominal blubber 54.99 1.4749 0.9243 0.7 191.9 126.3 0.89 52.19 1.4768 0.9259 0.5 191.7 130.6 1.27 Blubber of" Dend6 " 38.61 1.4739 0.9218 0.4 191.4 126.1 0.94 35.62 1.4745 0.9239 0.5 190.9 128.3 0.97 Blubber of fore part of genital aperture 73.80 1.4745 0.9187 0.9 188.6 142.6 1.09 73.01 1.4740 0.9195 I.I 187.9 139.9 0.89 Tail flucks blubber 40.49 1.4755 0.9203 0.9 190.5 123.6 0.81 38.47 1.4704 0.9229 0.7 194.3 119.7 0.69 37.75 1.4713 0.9215 0.9 192.7 124.1 0.98 Back meat 0.68 1.4738 0.9259 1.9 190.8 128.0 1.15 174 H. TSUYUKI AND U. NARUSE TABLE 3. PROPERTIES OF THE OILS CONTAINED IN VARIOUS ORGANS OF BLACK RIGHT WHALE A Oil content Acid Unsapon. Parts di5 Sapon. Iodine material niJ value value value (%) content(%) Tongue 30.71 1.4757 0.9241 0.2 195.1 116.2 1.08 Oesophagus 14.56 1.4735 0.9218 0.4 192.0 129.1 0.59 13.97 1.4746 0.9233 0.7 193.4 124.3 1.17 " 11.83 1.4720 0.9209 0.6 194.1 126.7 1.06 Lung 28.19 1.4745 0.9211 0.7 190.6 133.2 1.28 25.23 1.4715 0.9232 0.5 188.3 137.1 1.09 Stomach" 7.89 1.4725 0.9189 0.6 193.2 123.2 1.03 8.46 1.4725 0.9197 0.7 193.6 125.6 1.21 Small intestine 8.03 1.4720 0.9208 0.8 187.9 138.l 1.32 7.61 1.4729 0.9221 0.9 189.2 135.9 1.18 Large intestine 3.06 1.4725 0.9233 0.8 190.4 127.8 1.10 Liver 10.41 1.4740 0.9219 1.5 190.5 129.4 1.72 Pancreas 9.37 1.4718 0.9203 0.5 190.9 128.7 1.31 8.76 1.4700 0.9218 0.6 192.5 127.2 1.09 7.91 1.4745 0.9226 0.8 194.1 123.7 1.22 Heart 2.48 1.4733 0.9191 1.1 193.6 124.1 1.48 Kidney 5.14 1.4740 0.9236 1.0 192.8 126.9 1.16 7.28 1.4725 0.9220 1.3 190.9 129.7 1.28 10.06 1.4700 0.9241 1.3 193.1 128.5 1.02 Testicle 8.13 1.4745 0.9251 2.2 196.0 116.7 1.33 TABLE 4. PROPERTIES OF THE OILS OF BLACK RIGHT WALE A Kind of Oil contents Acid Unsapon. d15 Sapon. Iodine material oils (%) niJ 4 value value value content(%) 0.9175 Blubber oils 35.62 1.4704 0.1 187.9 119.7 0.62 (23 samples) l l l l l l l 73.80 1.4768 0.9259 1.2 194.3 143.7 1.27 Meat oil (1 sample) 0.68 1.4738 0.9259 1.9 190.8 128.0 1.15 Organ oils 2.48 1.4700 0.9189 0.2 187.9 116.2 0.95 (20 samples) l l l l ! ! l 30.71 1.4757 0.9251 2.2 196.0 138.1 1.72 OIL OF BLACK RIGHT WHALE 175 TABLE 5.