Sperm Whale
⚡ ALL INFORMATION CLICK HERE 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻
Sperm Whale
Browse
Search
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Geography & Travel
Health & Medicine
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Literature
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
Science
Sports & Recreation
Technology
Visual Arts
World History
On This Day in History
Quizzes
Podcasts
Dictionary
Biographies
Summaries
Top Questions
Week In Review
Infographics
Demystified
Lists
#WTFact
Companions
Image Galleries
Spotlight
The Forum
One Good Fact
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Geography & Travel
Health & Medicine
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Literature
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
Science
Sports & Recreation
Technology
Visual Arts
World History
Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.
Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.
#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.
This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.
Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.
Buying Guide Expert buying advice. From tech to household and wellness products.
Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.
COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.
100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning. Go ahead. Ask. We won’t mind.
Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century. Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them!
SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Feedback Type
Select a type (Required)
Factual Correction
Spelling/Grammar Correction
Link Correction
Additional Information
Other
Animal Diversity Web - Physeteridae
NOAA Fisheries - Sperm Whale
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Feedback Type
Select a type (Required)
Factual Correction
Spelling/Grammar Correction
Link Correction
Additional Information
Other
Animal Diversity Web - Physeteridae
NOAA Fisheries - Sperm Whale
Alternate titles: Physeter catodon, cachalot
By
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
•
Last Updated:
Sep 6, 2022
•
Edit History
Related Topics:
ambergris
spermaceti
sperm oil
... (Show more)
View German filmmaker Thomas Behrend capturing the moments of the birth of a sperm whale calf in waters off the Greek coast
Could you lead the tour at your local zoo? Challenge your animal awareness with this quiz.
Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
Subscribe Now
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
sperm whale , ( Physeter catodon ), also called cachalot , the largest of the toothed whales , easily recognized by its enormous square head and narrow lower jaw. The sperm whale is dark blue-gray or brownish, with white patches on the belly. It is thickset and has small paddlelike flippers and a series of rounded humps on its back. Males attain a maximum length of about 24 metres (78.7 feet) and weigh up to 50 metric tons (55.1 tons). Females are smaller, usually measuring less than about 14 metres (45.9 feet) and weighing less than 25 metric tons (27.6 tons).
Sperm whales are deep divers, commonly reaching a depth of about 350 metres (1,150 feet), and have been found tangled in cables more than 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) below the surface. It is not uncommon for sperm whales to dive for an hour or more and then spend about 10 minutes at the surface breathing once every 10 seconds. They can cruise at a speed of 4 knots (7.4 km/hr, or 4.6 mph) and swim in spurts at up to 20 knots (37 km/hr, or 23 mph).
These cetaceans are found in temperate and tropical waters throughout the world, usually in pods (groups) of about 15 to 20; solitary males, however, may wander into colder regions. Sperm whales attain sexual maturity at 7 to 13 years of age and physical maturity at 25 to 45 years and have been recorded to live as long as 62 years. They feed primarily on cephalopods , including the giant squid ( Architeuthis dux ).
The sperm whale is the most evolutionarily modified of the toothed whales. The head constitutes one-third of the total body length and, it is estimated, greater than a third of the body weight. The lower jaw is usually equipped with 36 to 50 large conical teeth ; the upper jaw holds a variable number of vestigial teeth that do not erupt. The head features an elaborately developed nose and upper lip where the fluid-filled spermaceti organ (which whalers called the case) is located; sperm oil and spermaceti were extracted from this fluid for lighting and lubrication . The spermaceti organ is unique to sperm whales. It has a volume as large as 2,000 litres (530 gallons) and can extend through 40 percent of the whale’s length.
The function of the spermaceti organ has not yet been conclusively demonstrated. Suggestions of its role pertain mostly to diving. It may close the nasal passages, act as a force pump for the bony nares, or serve in part as a hydrostatic organ by squeezing oil to one end or the other through contractions of its muscular sheath. Other theories suggest that it assists in the evacuation of the lungs prior to a deep dive, absorbs nitrogen at extreme underwater pressure , or acts as a buoyancy regulator to assist the whale while descending and ascending from deep dives. The spermaceti organ may serve these suggested purposes singly or in combination. It could even be a reverberation chamber used by the sperm whale in producing its unique pulsed signals, which are used for echolocation and communication .
Sperm whales were once commercially valuable and were hunted for several centuries. The White Whale hunted in Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick (1851) is presumably an albino sperm whale. Ambergris , a material sometimes found floating in the sea, is formed in the sperm whale’s intestines around a core of undigested solid matter such as squid beaks.
Scientists have determined that sperm whales communicate with one another using a series of clicks called codas and that each coda has a distinct purpose. They note that slight coda differences exist between sperm whale communities and that sperm whales have developed regional accents and dialects . In addition, there is some evidence that pods that have developed defensive behaviours that allow them to avoid whaling vessels and harpoons may be able to communicate these behaviours to more-naive pods.
Physeter is Greek for “blower,” an allusion to the sperm whale’s breathing. The pygmy and dwarf sperm whales ( Kogia breviceps and K. simus ) are the only other members of the family Physeteridae. These little-known dolphinlike whales are gray above and white below, and they are quite small—about 2.5 to 4 metres (8 to 13 feet) long. They are distributed worldwide in offshore waters from equatorial to temperate regions and have no commercial value. The family Physeteridae diverged from the rest of the toothed whales (suborder Odontoceti) very early. Large sperm whales with all of the characteristics of present-day sperm whales lived 20 million years ago during the Early Miocene (about 23 million to 16 million years ago). This early divergence makes conclusions about sperm whale relationships provisional.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION |
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Facebook (link is external)
Instagram (link is external)
Twitter (link is external)
YouTube (link is external)
Mail |
Overview
Conservation & Management
Science
Resources
Throughout the Wider Caribbean Region
15 tons (females) to 45 tons (males)
40 feet (females) to 52 feet (males)
Climate change,
Entanglement in fishing gear,
Marine debris,
Ocean noise,
Oil spills and contaminants,
Vessel strikes
Alaska,
New England/Mid-Atlantic,
Pacific Islands,
Southeast,
West Coast
Sperm whales. Credit: NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
ESA Endangered
Throughout Its Range
CITES Appendix I
Throughout Its Range
MMPA Protected
Throughout Its Range
MMPA Depleted
Throughout Its Range
SPAW Annex II
Throughout the Wider Caribbean Region
Line and buoys wrapped tightly around a humpback whale’s tail. While entanglements may appear straightforward when viewed from the surface, they are often complex and involve many wraps that are not easily removed without specialized equipment. Credit: Pieter Folkens (NOAA Permit # 18786-04).
Photo Credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC),
Photo taken under MMPA/ESA permit no. 18786
Sperm whale in Mobile Bay Thursday, Nov. 19
Actions & Documents
Incidental Take
NOAA Fisheries announces the initiation of a 5-year review for the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). NOAA Fisheries is required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to conduct 5-year reviews to ensure that the listing classifications of species are…
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) requires completion of periodic reviews of species that are listed as threatened or endangered to ensure that the listing of these species remains accurate.
NOAA Fisheries was petitioned to list sperm whale in the Gulf of Mexico as an endangered or threatened distinct population segment under the Endangered Species Act. A review of the status of this population was conducted and based on the best available…
NOAA Fisheries announces the adoption of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) Recovery Plan for the Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). The Recovery Plan contains revisions and additions in consideration of public comments received on the proposed draft…
Current page
1
Page
2
Last »
Next
Incidental Take Authorization: Attentive Energy LLC Marine Site Characterization Surveys off of New Jersey and New York
Incidental Take Authorization: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Bight, LLC Marine Site Characterization Surveys off of New Jersey and New York
Incidental Take Authorization: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Geophysical Surveys at the Cascadia Subduction Zone and Juan de Fuca Plate in the Northeast Pacific Ocean
Incidental Take Authorization: Park City Wind Marine Site Characterization Surveys off of Massachusetts to New York
Current page
1
Page
2
Page
3
…
Last »
Next
More Information
Report a Stranded or Injured Marine Animal
Marine Life Viewing Guidelines
Marine Mammal Permits and Authorizations
Endangered Species Conservation
ESA Section 7 Consultations
Marine Mammal Protection
Whale Alert Smartphone App (link is external)
International Marine Mammal Conservation
Sperm Whale Contacts
More Information
NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center Marine Mammal Laboratory
Population Assessments
Climate
Permits and Authorizations: Scientific Research and Enhancement
Stay informed of all the latest regional news around NOAA Fisheries
NOAA Fisheries
About Us
Laws & Policies
FishWatch
NOAA
Department of Commerce
Site Index
For Fishermen
Rules & Regulations
Permits & Forms
Commercial Fishing
Recreational Fishing
Fishery Observers
For Researchers
Published Research
Science & Data
Big Tits Sex Ride
Sunny Light Outdoor
Overwatch D Va Ass