Sperm Whale

sperm whale, largest of the toothed whales, Physeter catodon, found in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is also called cachalot. Male sperm whales may grow to more than 70 ft (21 m) long and females to 30 ft (9 m). Most are dark blue-black all over; a few have white undersides. The large squarish head accounts for one third of the total length. The flippers are small and rounded, and there is a row of low humps toward the rear of the body; there is no dorsal fin. The sperm whale has a single nostril on the left side of its head, and the characteristic spout emerges diagonally. The lower jaw has a row of 20 to 30 teeth on either side; the toothless upper jaw has horny sheaths to receive the lower teeth. Sperm whales travel long distances, following the migrations of their prey. The adult females and the calves usually confine their movements to the latitudes between 40°N and 40°S of the equator. The range of adult males extends N to the Bering Sea and S to Antarctica; they join the females and young in the tropics during the breeding season. There are fewer males than females, and the animals are polygamous. The single calf, born after a gestation period of 12 months, is 12 to 14 ft (3.6–4.2 m) long at birth. Sperm whales feed chiefly on squid, octopus, and cuttlefish. A gray, cheeselike substance called ambergris, valuable as a perfume fixative, forms in the whale's intestine around the irritating, undigested beaks of squids. It is often expelled by vomiting and floats in chunks on the water. The head of the sperm whale may contain up to a ton of fine oil, known as sperm oil, and a wax called spermaceti. Sperm whaling was the foundation of the economic expansion of New England in the 18th cent. The industries founded on ambergris, sperm oil, and spermaceti resulted in the slaughter of sperm whales almost to extinction. With the decline in and then the moratorium on the hunting of this species, sperm whales have increased in numbers. Sperm whales are among the most aggressive of whales; they battle 30-ft (9-m) giant squid to the death and have been known, when attacked, to sink a rowboat full of whalers. They are thought to live 80 to 100 years. The pygmy sperm whale, Kogia breviceps, of the same family, is similar to the cachalot in range and feeding habits. It is 9 to 13 ft (2.7–4 m) long, black above and gray below, with a sickle-shaped dorsal fin and has two teeth in its upper jaw. Sperm whales are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Cetacea, family Physeteridae.

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sperm whale

 or cachalot

Thickset, blunt-snouted toothed whale (Physeter catodon, family Physeteridae) with small, paddlelike flippers and rounded humps on the back. Sperm whales have an enormous head, squarish in profile, and a narrow, underslung lower jaw with large conical teeth that fit into sockets in the toothless upper jaw when the mouth is closed. They are dark blue-gray or brownish. (Herman Melville's Moby-Dick was presumably an albino.) The male grows to 60 ft (18 m). Herds of 15–20 live in temperate and tropical waters worldwide. They commonly dive to 1,200 ft (350 m), feeding primarily on cephalopods. The whales have been hunted for their spermaceti (a waxy substance in the snout, used in ointments and cosmetics) and for ambergris. The pygmy sperm whale (genus Kogia) is a black dolphinlike whale, about 13 ft (4 m) long, of the Northern Hemisphere that lacks commercial value.

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sperm whale

a large toothed whale, Physeter catodon, having a square-shaped head and hunted for sperm oil, spermaceti, and ambergris: family Physeteridae

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sperm whale [′spərm ‚wāl]

(vertebrate zoology)

Physeter catadon.An aggressive toothed whale belonging to the group Odontoceti of the order Cetacea; it produces ambergris and contains a mixture of spermaceti and oil in a cavity of the nasal passage.

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Sperm Whale 

(Physeter catodon), an aquatic mammal of the suborder Odontoceti.

The length of the male sperm whale reaches 20 m; it may weigh as much as 70 tons. The females are as long as 15 m and weigh up to 30 tons. The head is very large (as much as one-third the length of the body), massive, and blunt in the front. The left nostril opens at the end of the snout in the left corner of the head; the right nostril ends blindly. In the frontal part of the head there is a saccular enlargement of the right nasal passage—the air sac, an adaptation to prolonged stays under water. An enormous fatty cushion of spermaceti (to 6 m) lies in the bed formed by the maxillary bones and determines the shape and size of the head. The mouth is located below this area, a considerable distance back from the tip of the snout. There are 18-30 pairs of teeth on the long and narrow lower jaw. Upper teeth are absent. The flippers are broad and blunt; the dorsal fin takes the form of an elongated hump. The skin on the sides of the body and back is usually wrinkled. The color of the whale varies from brown to dark chestnut. The males are found in all oceans and open seas except in the arctic; the females, only in the warm zone between 40° S lat. and 40° N lat.

The sperm whale feeds on cephalopods and deepwater fish, descending as far as 1.2 km. It can stay under water as long as 1.5 hours, facilitated by the high myoglobin content of the muscles and the decreased sensitivity of the respiratory center to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood. The sperm whale is polygamous, 10-20 females being escorted by a single male. Sexual maturity is attained at five years. The life span may be as much as 50 years. The sperm whale is a most important object of commerce, yielding 9-10 tons of fat, as much as 6 tons of spermaceti, and ambergris. The sperm whale population is decreasing (no more than 300, 000 remain).

REFERENCES

Tomilin, A. G. Kitoobraznye. Moscow, 1957 (Zveri SSSR i prilezhashchikh stran, vol. 9).
Tomilin, A. G. Kitoobraznye fauny morei SSSR. Moscow, 1962.
Zhizn’zhivotnykh, vol. 6. Moscow, 1971.
Berzin, A. A. Kashalot.Moscow, 1971. (Bibliography.)
Iablokov, A. V., V. M. Bel’kovich, and V. I. Borisov. Kity i delfiny. Moscow, 1972.

A. G. TOMILIN