Fellow marine mammalogists, As part of a project on the biomechanics of ventral groove blubber, I would like to send out a request for images of the throat pouch (i.e., ventral groove blubber) from any living rorquals (Balaenoptera spp. or Megaptera) and any dead ones as well. This request also includes very dead ones, especially those that are bloated, with a distended, balloon-like throat. (This request thus falls under the category of "dead, bloated, rotting whale.") Our research group, at UBC, is interested in the relative extension of the ventral groove blubber (VGB) from rest. Scale bars or objects of known size, while appreciated, are not necessary in the image. Please send images, along with appropriate permission authorization, and any attendant information (e.g., species, length, place, day, condition) to pyenson@zoology.ubc.ca Thanks, Nick -- ----------------------------------------- Nicholas D. Pyenson, Ph.D. Currently: Postdoctoral Research Fellow Department of Zoology 2370-6270 University Boulevard University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 CANADA Starting December 2009: Curator of Fossil Marine Mammals Department of Paleobiology National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC