The name "sperm whale" is a truncation of "spermaceti whale". Spermaceti, originally mistakenly identified as the whales' semen, is the semi-liquid, waxy substance found within the whale's head (see below). The sperm whale is also known as the "cachalot", which is thought to derive from the archaic French for "tooth" or "big teeth", as preserved for example in ' in the Gascon dialect (a word of either Romance or Basque origin). The etymological dictionary of Corominas says the origin is uncertain, but it suggests that it comes from the Vulgar Latin ', plural of "", "sword hilt". The word "cachalot" came to English via French from Spanish or Portuguese ', perhaps from Galician/Portuguese ', "big head".
Etymology
Sperm whale
Sperm whale | Etymology
It is a truncation of "spermaceti whale". The name "sperm whale" is a truncation of "spermaceti whale". The name "sperm whale" is a truncation of "spermaceti whale". Spermaceti, originally mistakenly identified as the whales' semen, is the semi-liquid, waxy substance found within the whale's head It is a truncation of "spermaceti whale".
what ocean zone does the sperm whale live in
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They are relatively abundant from the poles to the equator and are found in all the oceans.
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where does this whale species get its name from?
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The term is retained in the Russian word for the animal, (""), as well as in many other languages. The scientific genus name "Physeter" comes from the Greek "" (), meaning "blowpipe, blowhole (of a whale)", or – as a "pars pro toto" – "whale". The specific name "macrocephalus" is Latinized from the Greek ' (, meaning "big-headed"), from ' (, "large") + "" (, "head"). Its synonymous specific name "catodon" means "down-tooth", from the Greek elements ' ("below") and ' ("tooth"); so named because it has visible teeth only in its lower jaw. (See: Teeth) Another synonym "australasianus" ("Australasian") was applied to sperm whales in the Southern Hemisphere.
Sperm whale | Etymology
The name "sperm whale" is a truncation of "spermaceti whale". Spermaceti, originally mistakenly identified as the whales' semen, is the semi-liquid, waxy substance found within the whale's head (see below). The sperm whale is also known as the "cachalot", which is thought to derive from the archaic French for "tooth" or "big teeth", as preserved for example in ' in the Gascon dialect (a word of either Romance or Basque origin). The etymological dictionary of Corominas says the origin is uncertain, but it suggests that it comes from the Vulgar Latin ', plural of "", "sword hilt". The word "cachalot" came to English via French from Spanish or Portuguese ', perhaps from Galician/Portuguese ', "big head".
Sperm whale | Etymology
Sperm whales are among the most cosmopolitan species. They prefer ice-free waters over deep. Although both sexes range through temperate and tropical oceans and seas, only adult males populate higher latitudes. Among several regions, such as along coastal waters of southern Australia, sperm whales have been considered to be locally extinct. They are relatively abundant from the poles to the equator and are found in all the oceans. They inhabit the Mediterranean Sea, but not the Black Sea, while their presence in the Red Sea is uncertain. The shallow entrances to both the Black Sea and the Red Sea may account for their absence.
Sperm whale | Distribution
Orycteocetus is an extinct genus of sperm whale from the Miocene of the northern Atlantic Ocean.
Orycterocetus | Introduction
While this may be correct for the plotopterids, for pelagornithids it is not all too likely for two reasons: First, the Pelagornithidae continued to thrive for 10 million years after modern-type baleen whales evolved, and in the Middle Miocene "Pelagornis" coexisted with "Aglaocetus" and Harrison's whale ("Eobalaenoptera harrisoni") in the Atlantic off the Eastern Seaboard, while the Pacific "Osteodontornis" inhabited the same seas as "Balaenula" and "Morenocetus"; the ancestral smallish sperm whale genus "Aulophyseter" (and/or "Orycterocetus") occurred in both Northern Hemisphere oceans at that time, while the mid-sized sperm whale "Brygmophyseter" roamed the North Pacific. As regards Miocene pinnipeds, a diversity of ancient walruses and ancestral fur seals like "Thalassoleon" inhabited the north-east, while the ancient leopard seal "Acrophoca" is a remarkable species known from the south-east Pacific.
Pelagornithidae | Ecology and extinction
Livyatan is an extinct genus of sperm whale containing one species: L. melvillei. The genus name was inspired by the biblical sea monster Leviathan, and the species name by Herman Melville, the author of the famous book "Moby-Dick" about a white bull sperm whale. It is mainly known from the Pisco Formation of Peru during the Tortonian stage of the Miocene epoch, about 9.9–8.9 million years ago (mya); however, isolated teeth from other locations such as Chile, Argentina, South Africa, and Australia implies that either it or a close relative survived into the Pliocene, around 5mya, and was present throughout the Southern Hemisphere.
Livyatan | Introduction
The total population is unknown. Fossils identified as belonging to "K. breviceps" have been recovered from Miocene deposits in Italy, Japan, and southern Africa.
Pygmy sperm whale | Population and distribution
In 1878, naturalist James Hector synonymized the dwarf sperm whale with the pygmy sperm whales as "K. breviceps". No distinction was made by most authors until mammalogist Dale Rice in his 1998 review of marine mammal taxonomy citing the works of Dr. Teizo Ogawa from 1936, researcher Munesato Yamada from 1954, zoologist Charles Handley from 1966, and mammalogist Graham James Berry Ross from 1979. Genetic testing in 2006 suggests that "K. sima" may actually represent two species, one in the Atlantic and one in the Indo-Pacific region. The Cape of Good Hope around South Africa may mark the barrier between these two populations.
Dwarf sperm whale | Taxonomy
Swedish ichthyologist Peter Artedi described it as "Physeter catodon" in his 1738 work "Genera piscium", from the report of a beached specimen in the Orkneys in 1693 and two beached in the Netherlands in 1598 and 1601. The 1598 specimen was near Berkhey. The sperm whale is one of the species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of "Systema Naturae". He recognised four species in the genus "Physeter". Experts soon realised that just one such species exists, although there has been debate about whether this should be named "P. catodon" or "P. macrocephalus", two of the names used by Linnaeus.
Sperm whale | Taxonomy
However, more recent studies, based on various combinations of comparative anatomy and molecular phylogenetics, criticised Milinkovitch's analysis on technical grounds and reaffirmed that the Odontoceti are monophyletic. These analyses also confirm that there was a rapid evolutionary radiation (diversification) of the Physeteroidea in the Miocene period. The Kogiidae (dwarf and pygmy sperm whales) diverged from the Physeteridae (true sperm whales) at least .
Sperm whale | Phylogeny
Fossil sperm whales from the Middle Miocene include "Aulophyseter", "Idiorophus" and "Orycterocetus", all of which were found on the West Coast of the United States, and "Scaldicetus", found in Europe and Japan. "Orycterocetus" fossils have also been found in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, in addition to the west coast of the United States. "Placoziphius", found in Europe, and "Acrophyseter", from Peru, are dated to the late Miocene. Fossil sperm whales differ from modern sperm whales in tooth count and the shape of the face and jaws. For example, "Scaldicetus" had a tapered rostrum. Genera from the Oligocene and early and middle Miocene, with the possible exception of "Aulophyseter", had teeth in their upper jaws.
Sperm whale | Fossil record
"Scaldicetus" is known from the Miocene to Pleistocene deposits of Western Europe, the U.S. (California, Florida, Maryland, Virginia), Baja Peninsula, Peru, New South Wales, and Japan. However, "Scaldicetus" is probably a grade taxon, and fossil teeth assigned to it (largely due to the lack of distinguishing characteristics in fossil teeth alone) probably represent more-or-less unrelated sperm whales united by their primitive characteristics rather than actual ancestry. Consequently, this would inflate the genus's distribution. The name "Scaldicetus caretti" was coined in 1867 from numerous sperm whale teeth collected in Neogene deposits near Antwerp, Belgium probably from the early-to-middle Miocene Bercham Formation.
Scaldicetus | Taxonomy
"Orycterocetus" is a member of Physeteroidea closely related to crown-group sperm whales. The type species, "O. quadratidens", was first named by Joseph Leidy on the basis of two teeth, two partial mandibular rami, and a rib from Neogene deposits of Virginia. Two more species were subsequently described, "O. cornutidens" Leidy 1856 and "O. crocodilinus" Cope, 1868, the latter from the middle Miocene Calvert Formation.
Orycterocetus | Classification
Both names are still used, although most recent authors now accept "macrocephalus" as the valid name, limiting "catodon" status to a lesser synonym. Until 1974, the species was generally known as "P. catodon". In that year, however, Dutch zoologists Antonius M. Husson and Lipke Holthuis proposed that the correct name should be "P. macrocephalus", the second name in the genus "Physeter" published by Linnaeus concurrently with "P. catodon". This proposition was based on the grounds that the names were synonyms published simultaneously, and, therefore, the ICZN Principle of the First Reviser should apply. In this instance, it led to the choice of "P.
Sperm whale | Taxonomy
It is distinguished from the other raptorial sperm whales by the basin on the skull, and how it spans the entire length of the snout. The spermaceti organ, contained in that basin, is thought to have been used in echolocation and communication, or for ramming prey and other sperm whales. The whale may have interacted with the large extinct shark megalodon ("Otodus megalodon"), competing with it for a similar food source. Its extinction was likely caused by a cooling event at the end of the Miocene which resulted in a drop in food populations. The formation where the whale has been found has also preserved a large assemblage of marine life, such as sharks and marine mammals.
Livyatan | Introduction
The traditional view has been that Mysticeti (baleen whales) and Odontoceti (toothed whales) arose from more primitive whales early in the Oligocene period, and that the super-family Physeteroidea, which contains the sperm whale, dwarf sperm whale, and pygmy sperm whale, diverged from other toothed whales soon after that, over . From 1993 to 1996, molecular phylogenetics analyses by Milinkovitch and colleagues, based on comparing the genes of various modern whales, suggested that the sperm whales are more closely related to the baleen whales than they are to other toothed whales, which would have meant that Odontoceti were not monophyletic; in other words, it did not consist of a single ancestral toothed whale species and all its descendants.
Sperm whale | Phylogeny
deinodon". The genus name "Acrophyseter" is derived from the Greek –meaning acute, which describes the short, pointed, upturned snout–and –which is the genus name for the modern sperm whale "Physeter macrocephalus". The species name "deinodon" is from the Greek –meaning terrible–and –tooth.
Acrophyseter | Taxonomy
The pygmy sperm whale was first described by naturalist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1838. He based this on the head of an individual washed up on the coasts of Audierne in France in 1784, which was then stored in the Muséum d'histoire naturelle. He recognized it as a type of sperm whale and assigned it to the same genus as the sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus") as "Physeter breviceps". He noted its small size and nicknamed it ""cachalot a tête courte""–small-headed sperm whale; further, the species name "breviceps" is Latin for "short-headed". In 1846, zoologist John Edward Gray erected the genus "Kogia" for the pygmy sperm whale as "Kogia breviceps", and said it was intermediate between the sperm whale and dolphins.
Pygmy sperm whale | Taxonomy
"Zygophyseter" was discovered in the Pietra Leccese Formation in Italy from a skull, teeth, and vertebrae; "Brygmophyseter" was discovered in the Bessho Formation in Japan from a nearly-complete skeleton; and "Acrophyseter" and "Livyatan" both originate from the Pisco Formation in Peru and are known by only a skull. It has also been suggested that the macroraptorials be placed into the subfamily Hoplocetinae, a subfamily characterized by robust and enamel-coated teeth, alongside the genera "Diaphorocetus", "Idiorophus", and "Hoplocetus", which are known from the Miocene to the Early Pleistocene. However, most of these whales are known from fragmentary remains or have been used as wastebasket taxa for indiscernible stem sperm whale remains.
Macroraptorial sperm whale | Taxonomy
The sperm whale belongs to the order Cetartiodactyla, the order containing all cetaceans and even-toed ungulates. It is a member of the unranked clade Cetacea, with all the whales, dolphins, and porpoises, and further classified into Odontoceti, containing all the toothed whales and dolphins. It is the sole extant species of its genus, "Physeter", in the family Physeteridae. Two species of the related extant genus "Kogia", the pygmy sperm whale "Kogia breviceps" and the dwarf sperm whale "K. sima", are placed either in this family or in the family Kogiidae. In some taxonomic schemes the families Kogiidae and Physeteridae are combined as the superfamily Physeteroidea (see the separate entry on the sperm whale family).
Sperm whale | Taxonomy
The holotype was recovered from an unspecified location in the sea cliffs near the original Santa Barbara Lighthouse in 1909, which is believed to most likely be part of the Monterey Formation. The whale was originally placed in the genus "Ontocetus" in 1925 by American naturalist Remington Kellogg as "O. oxymycterus". This genus was originally thought to represent a sperm whale, however, in 2008, the type species, "Ontocetus emmonsi", was discovered to actually be a walrus. The whale was then moved to the wastebasket taxon "Scaldicetus", which consists of various other (more-or-less unrelated) primitive sperm whales with enamel coated teeth.
Albicetus | Taxonomic history
Two fossil species belonging to the modern genus "Physeter" have been recognized so far: "P. antiquus" (Neogene of France) and "P. vetus" (Neogene of eastern North America).
Sperm whale | Fossil record
Sperm whaling involved the above-named ships searching for sperm whales on certain "grounds," or areas where sperm whales were likely to be found, such as the "Western" Ground in the mid-North Atlantic or the "Offshore" Ground in the latitudes of 5–10 degrees south and 105–125 degrees west longitude. The whales were spotted from one of the several look-outs stationed at the mast-heads. When a whale was found, whaleboats would be lowered and a harpoon attached to a long line would be thrown into it. The whale would then drag the boats (the famous "Nantucket sleighride") until it was too tired to resist, at which point the crew would lance it to death.
Sperm whaling | 19th century
The right nasal passage was small and was asymmetrical with the left nasal passage, like in the modern sperm whale. Characteristic of sperm whales, it had a deep basin on the top of its skull, known as the supracranial basin. Like in the modern sperm whale, this basin probably held the spermaceti organ, and so the whale had biosonar capabilities. The nuchal crest which is the part of the whale skull which projects upwards on the back end of the skull, behind the supracranial basin, was low and broad. Similar to modern-day toothed whales, but unlike in the modern sperm whale, the shoulder blades were thicker than they were taller.
Brygmophyseter | Description
The sperm whale or cachalot ("Physeter macrocephalus") is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus "Physeter" and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus "Kogia". The sperm whale is a pelagic mammal with a worldwide range, and will migrate seasonally for feeding and breeding. Females and young males live together in groups, while mature males (bulls) live solitary lives outside of the mating season. The females cooperate to protect and nurse their young.
Sperm whale | Introduction
Each species has a different reason for it, for example, the killer whale was named "Ballena asesina" 'killer whale' by Spanish sailors. The term "Great Whales" covers those currently regulated by the International Whaling Commission: the Odontoceti family Physeteridae (sperm whales); and the Mysticeti families Balaenidae (right and bowhead whales), Eschrichtiidae (grey whales), and some of the Balaenopteridae (Minke, Bryde's, Sei, Blue and Fin; not Eden's and Omura's whales).
Whale | Etymology and definitions
Lowering the temperature increases the density to have it act as a weight for deep-sea diving, and raising the temperature decreases the density to have it pull the whale to the surface.
Livyatan | Spermaceti organ
"Diaphorocetus" was originally named "Mesocetus" by Moreno (1892). Lydekker (1893) found that "Mesocetus" was already in use for an extinct mysticete, so he renamed the sperm whale "Hypocetus". Ameghino (1894) too recognized Moreno's name as preoccupied, but unaware of Lydekker's paper, coined his own replacement name "Diaphorocetus" for "Mesocetus". "Diaphorocetus" was declared a "nomen protectum" (protected name) by Paolucci et al. (2019) because "Hypocetus" and "Paracetus" have not been used as valid since 1899 under Article 23.9 of the Code.
Diaphorocetus | Systematics
Fossils conclusively identified as "L. melvillei" have been found in Peru and Chile. However, additional isolated large sperm whale teeth from other locations including Australia, Argentina, and South Africa have been identified as a species or possible close relative of "Livyatan". On the basis of these fossils, it was likely that the distribution of "Livyatan" was widespread but restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. The warmer waters around the equator have been known to be a climatic barrier for numerous cetaceans since Neogene times, and a possible hypothesis is that "Livyatan" may have been among the cetaceans unable to cross the equatorial barrier.
Livyatan | Palaeoecology
John Edward Gray placed it in its own genus in 1865, naming it in honour of physician and zoologist Daniel Frederik Eschricht. The common name of the whale comes from its coloration. The subfossil remains of now extinct gray whales from the Atlantic coasts of England and Sweden were used by Gray to make the first scientific description of a species then surviving only in Pacific waters. The living Pacific species was described by Cope as "Rhachianectes glaucus" in 1869. Skeletal comparisons showed the Pacific species to be identical to the Atlantic remains in the 1930s, and Gray's naming has been generally accepted since.
Gray whale | Taxonomy
Pygmy sperm whales are found throughout the tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, and occasionally among colder waters such as off Russia. However, they are rarely sighted at sea, so most data come from stranded animals - making a precise range and migration map difficult. They are believed to prefer off-shore waters, and are most frequently sighted in waters ranging from in depth, especially where upwelling water produces local concentrations of zooplankton and animal prey. Their status is usually described as rare, but occasional patches of higher-density strandings suggest they might be more common than previously estimated.
Pygmy sperm whale | Population and distribution
Albicetus is a genus of stem-sperm whales that lived during the Miocene Epoch, around 15 million years ago, and was discovered in Santa Barbara, California in 1909. It was categorized for decades as belonging to a group of extinct walruses erroneously thought to be sperm whales. It was named "Albicetus", meaning "white whale", is a reference to the leviathan in Herman Melville's classic 1851 novel "Moby-Dick".
Albicetus | Introduction
Although the fossil record is poor, several extinct genera have been assigned to the clade Physeteroidea, which includes the last common ancestor of the modern sperm whale, pygmy sperm whales, dwarf sperm whales, and extinct physeteroids. These fossils include "Ferecetotherium", "Idiorophus", "Diaphorocetus", "Aulophyseter", "Orycterocetus", "Scaldicetus", "Placoziphius", "Zygophyseter" and "Acrophyseter". "Ferecetotherium", found in Azerbaijan and dated to the late Oligocene (about ), is the most primitive fossil that has been found, which possesses sperm whale-specific features, such as an asymmetric rostrum ("beak" or "snout"). Most sperm whale fossils date from the Miocene period, . "Diaphorocetus", from Argentina, has been dated to the early Miocene.
Sperm whale | Fossil record
In 1871, mammalogist Theodore Gill assigned it and "Euphysetes" (now the dwarf sperm whale, "Kogia sima") to the subfamily Kogiinae, and the sperm whale to the subfamily Physeterinae. Both have now been elevated to the family level. In 1878, naturalist James Hector synonymized the dwarf sperm whale with the pygmy sperm whale, with both being referred to as "K. breviceps" until 1998.
Pygmy sperm whale | Taxonomy
The dwarf sperm whale ("Kogia sima") is a sperm whale that inhabits temperate and tropical oceans worldwide, in particular continental shelves and slopes. It was first described by biologist Richard Owen in 1866, based on illustrations by naturalist Sir Walter Elliot. The species was considered to be synonymous with the pygmy sperm whale ("Kogia breviceps") from 1878 until 1998. The dwarf sperm whale is a small whale, and , that has a gray coloration, square head, small jaw, and robust body. Its appearance is very similar to the pygmy sperm whale, distinguished mainly by the position of the dorsal fin on the body–nearer the middle in the dwarf sperm whale and nearer the back in the other.
Dwarf sperm whale | Introduction
Sperm whales consist the largest and smallest odontocetes, and spend a large portion of their life hunting squid. "P. macrocephalus" spends most of its life in search of squid in the depths; these animals do not require any degree of light at all, in fact, blind sperm whales have been caught in perfect health. The behaviour of Kogiids remains largely unknown, but, due to their small lungs, they are thought to hunt in the photic zone. Ziphiids consist of 22 species of beaked whale. These vary from size, to coloration, to distribution, but they all share a similar hunting style.
Whale | Odontocetes
Sperm whales have 21 pairs of chromosomes (2n=42). The genome of live whales can be examined by recovering shed skin.
Sperm whale | Genetics
The earliest sperm whale fossils are known from the late Oligocene – about 25 million years ago, with an ancestry tracing back from the latest Eocene before diverging from the remainder of the odontocetid line, leading to the dolphins, and porpoises. The fossil record suggests that sperm whales were more common in the Miocene, where basal lineages (such as "Zygophyseter" and "Naganocetus") existed; other fossil genera assigned to the Physeteridae include "Ferecetotherium", "Helvicetus", "Idiorophus", "Diaphorocetus", "Aulophyseter", "Orycterocetus", "Scaldicetus", and "Placoziphius", while kogiid fossil genera include "Kogiopsis", "Scaphokogia", and "Praekogia". The earliest kogiids are known from the late Miocene, around 7 million years ago.
Physeteroidea | Evolution
Like in other sperm whales, the blowhole was slanted towards the left side of the animal, and it may have lacked a right nasal passage. The falciform process on the squamosal bone was large and ventrally facing; as opposed to the ones in the Kogiidae ("Kogia" and "Praekogia") which are either reduced or absent. These may have been reduced in kogiids due to adaptations to deep-sea diving. Like in modern sperm whales, "Zygophyseter" had a very large basin above the braincase, known as the supracranial basin, which probably housed the spermaceti organ and the melon. These are used in the generation and focusing of sound for biosonar in the modern sperm whale, indicating "Zygophyseter" had some mechanisms for biosonar; that is to say this animal could have used echolocation.
Zygophyseter | Skull
The dwarf sperm whale ranges throughout tropical and temperate oceans of the world and inhabits the continental shelf and slope area. It seems to prefer warmer waters than the pygmy sperm whale. The dwarf sperm whale is one of the most commonly beached deep-diving whales in the world, though rarely seen at sea, and likewise, most information about the whale comes from examining beached individuals. Diving depth may vary from place to place: a study in the Bahamas placed average depth at around , whereas a study in the deeper waters of Hawaii placed it at around . In the West Pacific, its recorded range spans from Japan to Tasmania and New Zealand, and in the East Pacific from British Columbia to central Chile.
Dwarf sperm whale | Population and distribution
The pygmy sperm whale ("Kogia breviceps") is one of two extant species in the family Kogiidae in the sperm whale superfamily. They are not often sighted at sea, and most of what is known about them comes from the examination of stranded specimens.
Pygmy sperm whale | Introduction
Zarhinocetus is an extinct genus of whale from the Early to Middle Miocene of the eastern North Pacific.
Zarhinocetus | Introduction
This species was described from a whalefall, a dead whale which was experimentally placed in Monterey Canyon, California at a depth of 1820 m (). It was also seen on video from an ROV at another whalefall in Santa Cruz Basin, at a depth of 1676 m.
Dendronotus patricki | Distribution
This recycling of air allows the whale to continuously generate clicks for as long as it is submerged.
Sperm whale | Mechanism
A continuous fat-filled canal transmits received sounds to the inner ear. The source of the air forced through the phonic lips is the right nasal passage. While the left nasal passage opens to the blow hole, the right nasal passage has evolved to supply air to the phonic lips. It is thought that the nostrils of the land-based ancestor of the sperm whale migrated through evolution to their current functions, the left nostril becoming the blowhole and the right nostril becoming the phonic lips. Air that passes through the phonic lips passes into the distal sac, then back down through the left nasal passage.
Sperm whale | Mechanism
Because of the opposing seasons in each hemisphere, "B. p. physalus" breeds at a different time of the year than "B. p. quoyi". Peak conception for "B. p. physalus" is December–January, while peak birthing is in November–December — in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific.
Northern fin whale | Reproduction
The first fossil cetaceans near shallow seas (where porpoises inhabit) were found around the North Pacific; species like "Semirostrum" were found along California (in what were then estuaries). These animals spread to the European coasts and Southern Hemisphere only much later, during the Pliocene. The earliest known ancestor of arctic whales is "Denebola brachycephala" from the late Miocene around 9–10 million years ago. A single fossil from Baja California indicates the family once inhabited warmer waters. Ancient sperm whales differ from modern sperm whales in tooth count and the shape of the face and jaws. For example, "Scaldicetus" had a tapered rostrum.
Evolution of cetaceans | Toothed whales
However, the scientific name "Leviathan" was also the junior synonym for the mastodon ("Mammut"), so, in August 2010, the authors rectified this situation by coining a new genus name for the whale, "Livyatan", from the original Hebrew name of the monster. The species name "melvillei" is a reference to Herman Melville, author of the book "Moby-Dick", which features a gigantic sperm whale as the main antagonist. The first "Livyatan" fossils from Peru were initially dated to around 13-12 million years ago (mya) in the Serravallian Age of the Miocene, but this was revised to 9.9–8.9 mya in the Tortonian Age of the Miocene.
Livyatan | Research history
Sperm whales can live 70 years or more. They are a prime example of a species that has been K-selected, meaning their reproductive strategy is associated with stable environmental conditions and comprises a low birth rate, significant parental aid to offspring, slow maturation, and high longevity. How they choose mates has not been definitively determined. Males will fight with each other over females, and males will mate with multiple females, making them polygynous, but they do not dominate the group as in a harem. Males do not provide paternal care to their offspring. Females become fertile at around 9 years of age.
Sperm whale | Life cycle
Its length was estimated to be between .
Cryptid whale | High-finned sperm whale
These evolutionary modifications make the spine more flexible but weaker than the spines of terrestrial vertebrates. Like that of other toothed whales, the skull of the sperm whale is asymmetrical so as to aid echolocation. Sound waves that strike the whale from different directions will not be channeled in the same way. Within the basin of the cranium, the openings of the bony narial tubes (from which the nasal passages spring) are skewed towards the left side of the skull.
Sperm whale | Skeleton
Spermaceti (from Greek "sperma" meaning "seed", and "ceti", the genitive form of "whale") is a waxy substance found in the head cavities of the sperm whale (and, in smaller quantities, in the oils of other whales). Spermaceti is created in the spermaceti organ inside the whale's head. This organ may contain as much as of spermaceti. Two theories for the spermaceti organ's biological function suggest it either controls buoyancy, or acts as a focusing apparatus for the whale's sense of echolocation. There has been concrete evidence to support both theories. The buoyancy theory holds that the sperm whale is capable of heating the spermaceti, lowering its density and thus allowing the whale to float; in order for the whale to sink again, it must take water into its blowhole which cools the spermaceti into a denser solid.
Spermaceti | Introduction
It is listed on Appendix II as it has an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored agreements. It is also covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (Pacific Cetaceans MOU).
Sperm whale | Current conservation status
However, due to a poor fossil record of "Livyatan", collecting bias is another possible explanation. The holotype of "L. melvillei" is from the Tortonian stage of the Upper Miocene 9.9–8.9 mya in the Pisco Formation of Peru, which is known for its well-preserved assemblage of marine vertebrates. Among the baleen whales found, the most common was an undescribed species of cetotheriid whale measuring around , and most of the other baleen whales found were roughly the same size. Toothed whale remains found consist of beaked whales (such as "Messapicetus gregarius"), ancient pontoporiids (such as "Brachydelphis mazeasi"), oceanic dolphins, and the raptorial sperm whale "Acrophyseter".
Livyatan | Palaeoecology
The first two dwarf sperm whale specimens, a male and a female, were collected in 1853 by naturalist Sir Walter Elliot, who thought it a kind of porpoise due to the short snout. However, when he sent drawings of these whales–including skeletal diagrams–to biologist Richard Owen to describe, Owen, in his 1866 paper, recognized it as a type of sperm whale in the family Physeteridae based on several similar characteristics, such as having functional teeth in only the lower jaw, a lopsided blowhole leaning towards the left side, and a spermaceti organ. He named it "Physeter (Euphysetes) simus", the same genus as the sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus") and the pygmy sperm whale (now "Kogia breviceps"), with "Euphysetes" acting as a subgenus.
Dwarf sperm whale | Taxonomy
No global population estimate has been made, and so its conservation status by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is least concern.
Dwarf sperm whale | Introduction
The analogous structure in the sperm whale is traditionally called "the junk" because whalers dismissed it as a worthless source of sperm oil. It contains compartments of spermaceti separated by walls of cartilage.
Melon (cetacean) | Sperm whale
The Black Sea's lower layers are also anoxic and contain high concentrations of sulphur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide. The first ever sighting in Pakistan was made in 2017. The first ever record on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula (Yellow Sea) was made in 2005. followed by one on Ganghwa Island in 2009. Populations are denser close to continental shelves and canyons. Sperm whales are usually found in deep, off-shore waters, but may be seen closer to shore, in areas where the continental shelf is small and drops quickly to depths of . Coastal areas with significant sperm whale populations include the Azores and Dominica.
Sperm whale | Distribution
Zygophyseter varolai is an extinct sperm whale that lived during the Tortonian age of the Late Miocene 11.2 to 7.6 million years ago. It is known from a single specimen from the Pietra Leccese Formation in Italy. It was a member of a stem group of fossil macroraptorial sperm whales (often shortened to "raptorial") also including "Brygmophyseter", "Acrophyseter", and "Livyatan". It probably grew to be around in length and shared some characteristics with other raptorials, such as large teeth with tooth enamel that were functional in both the upper and lower jaws which the modern sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus") lacks.
Zygophyseter | Introduction
Unlike in the modern sperm whale, the premaxillae reached the sides of the snout. The upper jaw was thick, especially midway through the snout. The snout was asymmetrical, with the right maxilla in the upper jaw becoming slightly convex towards the back of the snout, and the left maxilla becoming slightly concave towards the back of the snout. The vomer reached the tip of the snout, and was slightly concave, decreasing in thickness from the back to the front. A sudden thickening in the middle-left side of the vomer may indicate the location of the nose plug muscles. Each mandible in the lower jaw was higher than it was wide, with a larger gap in between the two than in the modern sperm whale.
Livyatan | Skull
The species name "simus" is Latin for "stump-nosed", a reference to its blunt snout. John Edward Gray, when he created the genus "Kogia" in 1846, gave no indication to the meaning, but, since the word has a feminine ending, the masculine species name "simus" had to be changed to "sima" to fit this when the combination "Kogia simus" was proposed by various 20th century authors. In 1871, mammalogist Theodore Gill split Physeteridae into two subfamilies: Physterinae with "Physeter", and Kogiinae with "Kogia" and the now-defunct "Euphysetes"; this has now been elevated to family, Kogiidae. Gill also proposed the dwarf sperm whale be moved to its own genus, "Calignathus".
Dwarf sperm whale | Taxonomy
"Acrophyseter", from the late Miocene, also had teeth in both the upper and lower jaws as well as a short rostrum and an upward curving mandible (lower jaw). These anatomical differences suggest that fossil species may not have necessarily been deep-sea squid eaters such as the modern sperm whale, but that some genera mainly ate fish. "Zygophyseter", dated from the middle to late Miocene and found in southern Italy, had teeth in both jaws and appears to have been adapted to feed on large prey, rather like the modern killer whale (orca). Other fossil sperm whales with adaptations similar to this are collectively known as killer sperm whales.
Sperm whale | Fossil record
The sperm whale characteristically has a large, squarish head one-third the length of its body; the blowhole is slightly to the left hand side; the skin is usually wrinkled; and it has no teeth on the upper jaw.
List of cetaceans | Family Physeteridae: sperm whale
Remaining sperm whale populations are large enough so that the species' conservation status is vulnerable, rather than endangered. However, the recovery from the whaling years is a slow process, particularly in the South Pacific, where the toll on males of breeding age was severe.
Toothed whale | Sperm whaling
Aulophyseter is an extinct genus of sperm whales from the Miocene formations of the west and east coasts of North America, as well as the Patagonian region of South America. "Aulophyseter" reached a length of approximately with an estimated body weight of .
Aulophyseter | Introduction
Other fragmentary remains attributed to "Piscobalaena" are also from Peru, but date a little older (late Miocene, about 10 million years ago). So it seems that this kind of whales were located in the Pacific coast of South America and evolved for at least five million years. Other fossils attributed with some doubt to "Piscobalaena" come from the Miocene Bone Valley Formation of Florida: If so, then "Piscobalaena" might have had a wider distribution than the Peruvian coast. This could have been because the Isthmus of Panama was open until at least Late Pliocene, allowing the passage of marine species from the Atlantic to the Pacific and vice versa.
Piscobalaena | Palaeogeography
The sperm whale, or common cachalot, is a large toothed whale belonging to the infraorder Cetacea. Cachalot may also refer to:
Cachalot (disambiguation) | Introduction
For macroraptorial sperm whales, the presence of large body size along with large tooth size suggests that body size was an adaptation to hunting bigger prey, notably other marine mammals, as opposed to the modern sperm whale where size is possibly an adaptation to deep diving. The Langhian is particularly rich in sperm whale diversity, with "Albicetus", "Brygmophyseter", and "Aulophyseter" contemporaneously inhabiting the North Pacific. It is possible these sperm whales exhibited niche partitioning to avoid directly competing for food.
Albicetus | Paleoecology
Although identity between the Atlantic and Pacific populations cannot be proven by anatomical data, its skeleton is distinctive and easy to distinguish from that of all other living whales. Many other names have been ascribed to the gray whale, including desert whale, devilfish, gray back, mussel digger and rip sack. The name "Eschrichtius gibbosus" is sometimes seen; this is dependent on the acceptance of a 1777 description by Erxleben.
Gray whale | Taxonomy
This species occurs in the Pacific Ocean from Peru to the Strait of Magellan
Nassarius gayii | Distribution
Some individuals have been known to have a second crescent-shaped mark, creating a sort of pale ring encircling a darker spot. It has a high dorsal fin halfway down the length of the body, and two or more throat grooves. The dorsal fin is taller and closer to the head than it is in the pygmy sperm whale, and the back is flatter. "Kogia" is identified as having a square head, a small jaw with the snout jutting outward, and a porpoise-like build with a robust body that rapidly decreases towards the tail. They have the shortest snouts of any modern day whale.
Dwarf sperm whale | Description
The genus name "Aetiocetus" comes from Ancient Greek ' via Latin 'cause, origin' and Latin ' 'whale', translating to "original whale". "A. cotylalveus" approximately means "bowl cavity", "" meaning 'cup' or 'bowl' in Ancient Greek, and "alveus" Latin for "hollow" or "cavity". "A. tomitai" is named in honor of then-mayor Akio Tomita of Ashoro, Hokkaido in Japan. "A. weltoni" is named in honor of Doctor Bruce J. Welton, who initially discovered the specimen and directed the excavation of the skeleton. "A. polydentatus" is named in reference to the diversity of tooth shapes (polydont dentition) present in the specimen.
Aetiocetus | Etymology
Another theory says that the enlarged forehead caused by the presence of the spermaceti organ is used in all sperm whales between males fighting for females during mating season by head-butting each other, including "Livyatan" and the modern sperm whale. It may have also been used to ram into prey; if this is the case, in support of this, there have been two reports of modern sperm whales attacking whaling vessels by ramming into them, and the organ is disproportionally larger in male modern sperm whales. An alternate theory is that sperm whales, including "Livyatan", can alter the temperature of the wax in the organ to aid in buoyancy.
Livyatan | Spermaceti organ
The three "Eubalaena" species inhabit three distinct areas of the globe: the North Atlantic in the western Atlantic Ocean, the North Pacific in a band from Japan to Alaska and all areas of the Southern Ocean. The whales can only cope with the moderate temperatures found between 20 and 60 degrees in latitude. The warm equatorial waters form a barrier that prevents mixing between the northern and southern groups with minor exclusions. Although the southern species in particular must travel across open ocean to reach its feeding grounds, the species is not considered to be pelagic. In general, they prefer to stay close to peninsulas and bays and on continental shelves, as these areas offer greater shelter and an abundance of their preferred foods.
Right whale | Range and habitat
The males of most species are covered in scars from the teeth of other males. The lower jaw often forms a huge arch in some species, sometimes extending above the rostrum in a shape comparable to a playground slide. Every species has large (sometimes tusk-like) teeth of variable size, shape, and position.
Mesoplodont whale | Physical description
After sperm whale populations declined significantly, the species was given full protection by the International Whaling Commission in 1985. Hunting of sperm whales by Japan in the northern Pacific Ocean continued until 1988.
Sperm whaling | 20th century
In the Indian Ocean, the whale is reported from Oman, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia around Timor, western Australia and South Africa. In the West Atlantic, it has been recorded from Virginia to southern Brazil, and in the East Atlantic from Italy in the Mediterranean Sea to South Africa. No global population estimation has been made. Population counts have been taken over certain areas, though given the difficulty to distinguish the dwarf sperm whale from the pygmy sperm whale, the overall estimate represents the total number of both species. In the North Atlantic, they are estimated at around 3,785 individuals; in the East Pacific, around 11,200 individuals.
Dwarf sperm whale | Population and distribution
They use a suction technique, aided by a pair of grooves on the underside of their head, not unlike the throat pleats on the rorquals, to feed.
Whale | Odontocetes
The species is further included in the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia (Western African Aquatic Mammals MoU), and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (Pacific Cetaceans MoU).
Dwarf sperm whale | Relationship with humans
Kogia pusilla is an extinct species of sperm whale from the Middle Pliocene of Italy related to the modern day dwarf sperm whale ("K. sima") and pygmy sperm whale ("K. breviceps"). It is known from a single skull discovered in 1877, and was considered a species of beaked whale until 1997. The skull shares many characteristics with other sperm whales, and is comparable in size to that of the dwarf sperm whale. Like the modern "Kogia", it probably hunted squid in the twilight zone, and frequented continental slopes. The environment it inhabited was likely a calm, nearshore area with a combination sandy and hard-rock seafloor.
Kogia pusilla | Introduction
"B. brydei" occurs in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans between the 40th parallels of latitude, preferring highly productive, tropical, subtropical, and warm, temperate waters of . In the North Pacific, they occur as far north as Honshu to the west and southern California in the east, with vagrants reported as far north as Washington in the United States. A resident population is found in the Gulf of California and they occur throughout the eastern tropical Pacific, including Peru and Ecuador, where they are absent from July to September. They have also been reported in an upwelling area off Chile between 35° and 37°S.
Bryde's whale | "B. brydei"
The postcranial remains of only "Zygophyseter" and "Brygmophyseter" were found. The elongated lumbar vertebrae of "Zygophyseter" indicate it had larger multifidus and longissimus back muscles and was, thus, faster than the modern sperm whale which, comparable to other large open-ocean animals, travels horizontally at . A characteristic of sperm whales, the macroraptorials had a curved basin–the supracranial basin–on the top of the skull. This encompassed the entire breadth if the snout in "Livyatan" and "Brygmophyseter"; "Zygophyseter" and "Acrophyseter", instead, had reduced basins indicating beaks.
Macroraptorial sperm whale | Description
"Peregocetus" is the first recorded quadrupedal whale from the Pacific Ocean and the Southern Hemisphere. The discovery reveals that protocetids reached the Pacific Ocean and attained a near circumequatorial distribution while retaining functional weight-bearing limbs.
Peregocetus | Introduction
Note that the view pictured on the right is an axial view, not coronal as noted
Pygmy sperm whale | Melon
Both species have a sac in the lower portion of their intestinal tracts that contains up to 12 liters of dark reddish-brown fluid, which can be ejected to confuse or discourage potential predators.
Pygmy sperm whale | Diet/foraging behavior
They are members of the Odontoceti, the suborder containing all the toothed whales and dolphins. Suggestions that the sperm whales might be a sister group to the baleen whales were refuted by molecular and morphological data, confirming the monophyly of Odontoceti including sperm whales. One extant species of the genus "Physeter" is placed in the family Physeteridae. Two species of the related extant genus "Kogia", the pygmy sperm whale "K. breviceps" and the dwarf sperm whale "K. simus", are sometimes also placed in this family, or else are placed in their own family, the Kogiidae. A summary of the classification of extant and extinct (†) taxa is:
Physeteroidea | Classification
Like its giant relative, the sperm whale, the pygmy sperm whale has a spermaceti organ in its forehead (see sperm whale for a discussion of its purpose). It also has a sac in its intestines that contains a dark red fluid. The whale may expel this fluid when frightened, perhaps to confuse and disorient predators. Dwarf and pygmy sperm whales possess the shortest rostrum of current day cetaceans with a skull that is greatly asymmetrical Pygmy sperm whales have from 50 to 55 vertebrae, and from 12 to 14 ribs on either side, although the latter are not necessarily symmetrical, and the hindmost ribs do not connect with the vertebral column.
Pygmy sperm whale | Anatomy
Southern right and sperm whales were most severely hunted among these, hence the area was called the Middle Ground by whalers. These two were likely once seasonal residents around the island, where right whales prefer sheltered, very shallow bays, while sperm whales mainly inhabit deep waters.
Lord Howe Island | Marine life
Using their large and deeply rooted teeth, wide-opening jaws, and great size, they likely fed on a variety of sea life, including fish, cephalopods, seals, and small whales and dolphins, occupying a niche similar to the modern day killer whale ("Orcinus orca"). In fact, "Zygophyseter" is known colloquially as the "killer sperm whale" in reference to this. Likewise, they may have employed a similar hunting strategy of pursuing prey to tire it out before eventually drowning it. However, given their size, they probably did not need to hunt in groups. "Livyatan" probably targeted medium-sized whales ranging in size from .
Macroraptorial sperm whale | Paleobiology
Based on differences in the vertebrae, the Swedish zoologist Einar Lönnberg (1931) designated "Balaenoptera physalus quoyii" (later the Russian scientist A.G. Tomilin (1957) corrected this to "B. p. quoyi"). "B. p. quoyi" in turn is based on "Balaena quoyi" (Fischer, 1829), which was the name given to a 16.7 m (55 ft) specimen seen on the shores of the Falkland Islands by Monsieur Quoy and originally named "Balaena rostrata australis" by Desmoulins (1822).
Southern fin whale | Taxonomy
Spout shapes differ among species, which facilitates identification.
Whale | Anatomy
Macroraptorial sperm whales were highly predatory whales of the sperm whale family (Physeteroidea) of the Miocene epoch that hunted large marine mammals, including other whales, using their large teeth. Likewise, they were all likely the apex predator of their habitats, comparable to the modern day killer whale ("Orcinus orca"), and achieved great lengths, with one species–"Livyatan"–measuring about . The macroraptorial sperm whales–"Albicetus", "Acrophyseter", "Brygmophyseter", "Livyatan", "Scaldicetus", and "Zygophyseter"–are an informal grouping of genera without a family designation. All species are known by at least a skull.
Macroraptorial sperm whale | Introduction
It has also been suggested that the raptorial sperm whales should be placed into the subfamily Hoplocetinae, alongside the genera "Diaphorocetus", "Idiorophus", "Scaldicetus", and "Hoplocetus", which are known from the Miocene to the lower Pliocene. However, most of these taxa remain too fragmentary or have been used as wastebasket taxa for non-diagnostic material of stem physeteroids. This subfamily is characterized by their robust and enamel-coated teeth. The cladogram below is modified from Lambert et al. (2017) and represents the phylogenetic relationships between "Livyatan" and other sperm whales, with genera identified as macroraptorial sperm whales in bold.
Livyatan | Phylogeny
When echolocating, the sperm whale emits a directionally focused beam of broadband clicks. Clicks are generated by forcing air through a pair of phonic lips (also known as "monkey lips" or "museau de singe") at the front end of the nose, just below the blowhole. The sound then travels backwards along the length of the nose through the spermaceti organ. Most of the sound energy is then reflected off the frontal sac at the cranium and into the melon, whose lens-like structure focuses it. Some of the sound will reflect back into the spermaceti organ and back towards the front of the whale's nose, where it will be reflected through the spermaceti organ a third time.
Sperm whale | Mechanism
Adult males who are not breeding live solitary lives, whereas females and juvenile males live together in groups. The main driving force for the sexual segregation of adult sperm whales is scramble competition for mesopelagic squid. Females and their young remain in groups, while mature males leave their "natal unit" somewhere between 4 and 21 years of age. Mature males sometimes form loose bachelor groups with other males of similar age and size. As males grow older, they typically live solitary lives. Mature males have beached themselves together, suggesting a degree of cooperation which is not yet fully understood. The whales rarely, if ever, leave their group.
Sperm whale | Relations within the species
Each whale's head held up to a ton, in a cavity called the "case". It was part of a waxy liquid called spermaceti, from which the whale got its common name. The liquid was removed from the spermaceti organ at sea, and stored separately from the rendered whale oil for processing back in port. On return home, this headmatter, which was worth around 20% more than the oil from the blubber, was divided into two valuable commodities. One was a very pure type of sperm whale oil that required little or no additional processing. It was found particularly suitable as a lubricant for fine machinery, such as pocket watches.
Sperm whaling | Economic motivation
Sperm whales can live 70 years or more.
Sperm whale | Introduction
"Livyatan"-like sperm whales became extinct by the early Pliocene likely due to a cooling trend causing baleen whales to increase in size and decrease in diversity, becoming coextinct with the smaller whales they fed on. Their extinction also coincides with the emergence of the killer whale as well as large predatory globecephaline dolphins, possibly acting as an additional stressor to their already collapsing niche.
Livyatan | Extinction
Females reproduce every 2–3 years, usually to a single calf. In the Northern Hemisphere, males are usually and females at sexual maturity, while in the Southern Hemisphere, males average and females . The average age of sexual maturity of both sexes is 8–10 years. The whales can reach ages up to 65 years.
Sei whale | Reproduction
In 1853, one sperm whale was reported at in length with a head measuring .
Sperm whale | External appearance