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.
Distribution
Sperm whale
Sperm whale | Distribution
Mediterranean Sea Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Mediterranean Sea Mediterranean Sea
what ocean zone does the sperm whale live in
user
They are relatively abundant from the poles to the equator and are found in all the oceans.
assistant
where does this whale species get its name from?
user
It is a truncation of "spermaceti whale".
assistant
what does it look like?
user
It is distinguished by its large tooth.
assistant
can it make sounds?
user
Yes a "creak" and a "coda" are some of sound names used as per the situation they are in.
assistant
what do they feed on?
user
They feed on several species, notably the giant squid, colossal squid, octopuses and fishes such as demersal rays. However, their diet is mainly medium-sized squid.
assistant
are they under threat of extinction?
user
Currently, entanglement in fishing nets and collisions with ships represent the greatest threats. Other threats include ingestion of marine debris, ocean noise, and chemical pollution.
assistant
can you name any water body in particular where this whale is found?
user
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Like many large rorquals, the fin whale is a cosmopolitan species. It is found in all the world's major oceans and in waters ranging from the polar to the tropical. It is absent only from waters close to the ice pack at both the north and south extremities and relatively small areas of water away from the large oceans, such as the Red Sea although they can reach into the Baltic Sea, a marginal sea of such conditions. The highest population density occurs in temperate and cool waters. It is less densely populated in the warmest, equatorial regions. The North Atlantic fin whale has an extensive distribution, occurring from the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean Sea, northward to Baffin Bay and Spitsbergen.
Fin whale | Range and habitat
Orycteocetus is an extinct genus of sperm whale from the Miocene of the northern Atlantic Ocean.
Orycterocetus | Introduction
Male sperm whales are physically mature at about in length and generally reaching a maximum of about . There are old reports of sperm whales approaching, reaching or exceeding in length but there is disagreement as to the accuracy of these claims which are often considered exaggerations or as being measured along the curves of the body. The whale that sank the "Essex" (one of the incidents behind "Moby-Dick") was claimed to be . The Nantucket Whaling Museum has a -long jawbone which the museum claims that this individual was long. A long jawbone is held in the British Natural History Museum and a long jawbone is held in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Sperm whale | External appearance
For cetaceans, beluga whales are most commonly found. Male sperm whales are known to occur as well.
Kanin Peninsula | Fauna
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
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
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
During this waiting period, the intact skull of a young Sperm whale was found on Hawston beach. The taxidermist reconstructed a few of the missing teeth and it is now displayed in a suspended position in the entrance of the Whale House.
Old Harbour Museum | Finding the "right" skeleton
Killer whales ("Orcinus orca") and sharks are known to prey on the dwarf sperm whale. Dwarf sperm whale remains have been found in the stomachs of great white sharks ("Carcharodon carcharias"), and infestations of the cestode "Phyllobothrium delphini" in beached individuals indicates shark attacks since the cestode matures in sharks. The dwarf sperm whale also competes with other squid-eating whales, such as beaked whales. It occupies the same ecological niche in the same regions as the pygmy sperm whale, though the latter can forage in deeper waters and has been known to feed on a wider array of species of larger size.
Dwarf sperm whale | Threats
Distribution is worldwide: the blue, fin, humpback, and the sei whales are found in all major oceans; the common (northern) and Antarctic (southern) minke whale species are found in all the oceans of their respective hemispheres; and either of Bryde's whale and Eden's whale occur in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, being absent only from the cold waters of the Arctic and Antarctic. Most rorquals are strictly oceanic: the exceptions are Bryde's whale and Eden's whale (which are usually found close to shore all year round) and the humpback whale (which is oceanic but passes close to shore when migrating).
Rorqual | Distribution and habitat
The type specimen, USNM 10923, consists of a partial skull (mainly remains of the beak) and isolated tooth fragments. The total body size–extrapolated by comparing the occipital condyle length with antorbital notch (slits in the skull right before the snout) width of other primitive sperm whale–is estimated to be between . The preserved length of the beak is . The whale had a maximum of 18 teeth in either jaw, deeply rooted in exceedingly large tooth sockets.
Albicetus | Description
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
Few fin whale specimens are found in the Gulf of Mexico. But the stranding of whales have been recorded on Mexico's Atlantic coast. A whale arrived as far south as Quintana Roo (extreme southern Mexico). In Tecolutla itself, a sperm whale body washed up in 1976 and a pilot whale body in 1991. The descriptions of the dead creature vary because of imagination and ignorance, therefore the popular name is "monster". Some people found the animal looks like a giant worm, or with fibers hanging like a mane, or with either "wool" or armor plating, or both, or with a gigantic beak or bone-like fang sticking out of its head; the weight of the carcass was estimated between 24 and 35 tons, measuring 22 m long and 2 m wide.
Tecolutla | The Tecolutla "Monster"
The fin whale is a large baleen whale that belongs to the Cetacean order, which includes all species of whale, dolphin, and porpoise. At least two recognized subspecies exist, in the North Atlantic and the Southern Hemisphere. It is found in all the major oceans, from polar to tropical waters. It is absent only from waters close to the pack ice at the poles and relatively small areas of water away from the open ocean. The highest population density occurs in temperate and cool waters. Its food consists of small schooling fish, squid, and crustaceans including copepods and krill. Like all other large whales, the fin whale was heavily hunted during the 20th century.
Fin whale | 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
"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 total number of sperm whales in the world is unknown, but is thought to be in the hundreds of thousands. The conservation outlook is brighter than for many other whales. Commercial whaling has ceased, and the species is protected almost worldwide, though records indicate that in the 11-year period starting from 2000, Japan has caught 51 sperm whales. Fishermen do not target the creatures sperm whales eat, but long-line fishing operations in the Gulf of Alaska have complained about sperm whales stealing fish from their lines. Currently, entanglement in fishing nets and collisions with ships represent the greatest threats to the sperm whale population.
Sperm whale | Current conservation status
On average, females and juveniles blow every 12.5 seconds before dives, while large males blow every 17.5 seconds before dives. A sperm whale killed south of Durban, South Africa, after a 1-hour, 50-minute dive was found with two dogfish (Scymnodon sp.), usually found at the sea floor, in its belly. The sperm whale has the longest intestinal system in the world, exceeding 300 m in larger specimens. Similar to ruminants the sperm whale has a four-chambered stomach. The first secretes no gastric juices and has very thick muscular walls to crush the food (since whales cannot chew) and resist the claw and sucker attacks of swallowed squid.
Sperm whale | Biological systems
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
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
"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
In 1853, one sperm whale was reported at in length with a head measuring .
Sperm whale | External appearance
Sub-adult males are found further offshore and in deeper water than adult males due to dominance hierarchy. Blainville’s beaked whales have a long-term site fidelity meaning they return to the same area repeatedly or stay in the area for extended periods of time. Resight rate is higher for females than males as they are more likely to base their distribution based on prey abundance when males follow females to increase mating opportunity
Blainville's beaked whale | Geographic range and distribution
It was first found in a minke whale carcass at a depth of in the Koster area in Sweden, and from sediment between beneath a fish farm in Hardangerfjord in Norway.
Ophryotrocha craigsmithi | Distribution
Other threats include ingestion of marine debris, ocean noise, and chemical pollution. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) regards the sperm whale as being "vulnerable". The species is listed as endangered on the United States Endangered Species Act. Sperm whales are listed on Appendix I and Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on Appendix I as this species has been categorized as being in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant proportion of their range and CMS Parties strive towards strictly protecting these animals, conserving or restoring the places where they live, mitigating obstacles to migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them.
Sperm whale | Current conservation status
On February 5, 2014, a fossil of a sperm whale skull embedded in a boulder of Middle Miocene Era Altamira Shale located on the grounds of Chadwick School was removed to be studied at the L.A. County Natural History Museum. An expert from the museum believed that the skull might be of a previously unknown species. This event was widely covered by Los Angeles area news outlets.
Chadwick School | Sperm whale skull fossil
This beaked whale has been recorded in the eastern tropical Pacific between Baja California and Peru through sightings and strandings. Further strandings have been recorded in Chile () and Monterey Bay (a 3.6 m (11.8 ft) female found at Salinas State Beach), and a fresh specimen in Humboldt County, CA in 1995, 2001, and 2012, respectively, extending the species' range far to the north and south. Another specimen washed up in New Zealand, although this stranding is considered extralimital. No population estimates have been made.
Pygmy beaked whale | Population and distribution
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
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
This species occurs in the Pacific Ocean from Peru to the Strait of Magellan
Nassarius gayii | Distribution
Atop the whale's skull is positioned a large complex of organs filled with a liquid mixture of fats and waxes called spermaceti. The purpose of this complex is to generate powerful and focused clicking sounds, which the sperm whale uses for echolocation and communication. The spermaceti organ is like a large barrel of spermaceti. Its surrounding wall, known as the "case", is extremely tough and fibrous. The case can hold within it up to 1,900 litres of spermaceti. It is proportionately larger in males. This oil is a mixture of triglycerides and wax esters. The proportion of wax esters in the spermaceti organ increases with the age of the whale: 38–51% in calves, 58–87% in adult females, and 71–94% in adult males.
Sperm whale | Spermaceti organ and melon
The rostrum is flat and V-shaped with the head occupying about a quarter of the body length. The pectoral fins are short but slender, being from about 13 to 15 per cent of the body length. The dorsal fin ranges between 7.5 to 20 cm (3 to 8 inches) in height and 18 to 60 cm (7 to 23.6 inches) in length for specimens 3.9 to 7.15 m (12.8 to 23.4 ft) in length, and is placed about 57 per cent of the body length back from the tip of the rostrum. It is 61.5 per cent of the body length from the tip of the lower jaw to the umbilicus, whereas it is about 63 per cent from the tip of the lower jaw to the end of the ventral grooves.
Omura's whale | Morphometrics
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
The sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus") is the largest species of toothed whale, with adult bulls (males) growing to be about long, and weighing about . The two kogiid species are much smaller, around in length, and weighing . The bodies of physeteroids are robustly proportioned, with paddle-shaped flippers. The lower jaw is always relatively small and thin relative to the upper jaw. The nasal bones of these whales are distinctly asymmetrical, with the blowhole being located on the left side of the head; in the sperm whale, this is near the top of the head, while on the kogiids it is further forward.
Physeteroidea | Characteristics
South Australia's only recorded group stranding of sperm whales occurred on Parara Beach about south of Ardrossan on 8 December 2014. Seven dead or dying whales were discovered stranded in the intertidal zone south of the BHP jetty. Six of the whales were located in a loose group along several hundred metres of shoreline, with another whale located further to the north. The South Australian museum announced that it would sample the bodies and attempt to collect a complete skeleton for the museum, commencing work on December 10. Biopsy samples were formally taken from five of the whales by Australian Marine Wildlife Research & Rescue Organisation (AMWRRO) for analysis on December 9.
Ardrossan, South Australia | Sperm whale stranding
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
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
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
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
There is some hunting of the dwarf sperm whale in Indonesia, Japan, Sri Lanka, and the Lesser Antilles as food or bait, though there are no major operations. A bigger threat is likely ingestion of marine debris and entanglement in fishing gear, though it has not been determined how serious a threat these pose. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently lists the dwarf sperm whale's conservation status as data deficient, though it could possibly be of least concern. The dwarf sperm whale is covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area.
Dwarf sperm whale | Relationship with humans
The diary of Benjamin Bangs (1721–1769) shows that, along with the bumpkin sloop he sailed, he found three other sloops flensing sperm whales off the coast of North Carolina in late May 1743. On returning to Nantucket in the summer 1744 on a subsequent voyage, he noted that "45 spermacetes are brought in here this day," another indication that American sperm whaling was in full swing.
Sperm whale | Sperm whaling
Killer whales are found in all oceans and most seas. Due to their enormous range, numbers, and density, relative distribution is difficult to estimate, but they clearly prefer higher latitudes and coastal areas over pelagic environments. Areas which serve as major study sites for the species include the coasts of Iceland, Norway, the Valdes Peninsula of Argentina, the Crozet Islands, New Zealand and parts of the west coast of North America, from California to Alaska. Systematic surveys indicate the highest densities of killer whales (>0.40 individuals per 100 km) in the northeast Atlantic around the Norwegian coast, in the north Pacific along the Aleutian Islands, the Gulf of Alaska and in the Southern Ocean off much of the coast of Antarctica.
Killer whale | Range and habitat
The high-finned sperm whale, or the high-finned cachalot, is an alleged variant or relative of the known sperm whale, "Physeter macrocephalus", with an unusually tall dorsal fin from the North Atlantic. The physician Sir Robert Sibbald, in 1687, described an alleged stranded female individual on Orkney, saying its dorsal fins was similar to a "mizzen mast", and the whale, based on Sibbald's account, was described as "P. tursio". However, naturalist Georges Cuvier disregarded Sibbald's claim as a bad description of the carcass, as well as dismissing the name "P. tursio". Another alleged sighting was off the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada on September 27, 1946, where the creature was apparently trapped there for two days.
Cryptid whale | High-finned sperm whale
The false killer whale appears to have a widespread presence in tropical and semitropical oceanic waters. The species has been found in temperate waters, but these occurrences were possibly stray individuals, or associated with warm water events. It generally does not go beyond 50°N and below 50°S. It usually inhabits open oceans and deep-water areas, though it may frequent coastal areas near oceanic islands. The false killer whale is thought to be common around the world, though no total estimation has been made. The population in the Eastern Pacific is probably in the low tens-of-thousands, and around 16,000 near China and Japan.
False killer whale | Population and distribution
The blowhole of a sperm whale, a toothed whale, is located left of centre in the frontal area of the snout, and is actually its left nostril, while the right nostril lacks an opening to the surface and its nasal passage is otherwise well developed.
Blowhole (anatomy) | Introduction
In Asian waters, whales are also observed regularly in coastal waters in places such as the Commander and Kuril Islands, Shiretoko Peninsula which is one of few locations where whales can be observed from shores, off Kinkasan, vicinity to Tokyo Bay and the Bōsō Peninsula to the Izu and the Izu Islands, the Volcano Islands, Yakushima and the Tokara Islands to the Ryukyu Islands,Taiwan, the Northern Mariana Islands, and so forth. Historical catch records suggest there could have been smaller aggression grounds in the Sea of Japan as well. Along the Korean Peninsula, the first confirmed observation within the Sea of Japan, eight animals off Guryongpo, was made in 2004 since after the last catches of five whales off Ulsan in 1911, while nine whales were observed in the East China Sea side of the peninsula in 1999.
Sperm whale | Distribution
Mounted blue whale skeletons can be found prominently in the cathedral-like entrance hall to the Natural History Museum (London, UK); the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz (California); the Melbourne Museum (Australia); Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (California); New Bedford Whaling Museum (Massachusetts); North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Raleigh, NC); Iziko South African Museum (Cape Town, South Africa); Canadian Museum of Nature (Ottawa); Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Canada); Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada); Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St.
Blue whale | Museum specimens
Although extremely rare, white whales have been sighted here.
Samarinvågen | Introduction
They are sighted in the Tasman Sea in particular.
Right whale dolphin | Distribution
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
This marine species occurs off Massachusetts, USA, Greenland, the Lofoten Islands and Nova Zembla, in the Kara Sea and the Arctic shores of Siberia; Arctic Ocean to Monterey, California Fossils have been found in Greenland, Labrador, England and Spitsbergen.
Propebela exarata | Distribution
The whale was successfully saved and released back to the open sea. On 25 July 2015, biologists with the New England Aquarium investigated the death of a beaked whale in Massachusetts. The carcass of the long female, which weighed almost , was found on Jones Beach in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Biologists from the aquarium and the International Fund for Animal Welfare said they would perform a necrospy at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The whale was initially identified as a Sowerby's beaked whale, but the aquarium said a more thorough examination and consultation with additional experts was needed as staff had not seen a beaked whale since 2006.
Sowerby's beaked whale | Population and distribution
Like baleen whales, "Janjucetus" could not echolocate; however, it did have unusually large eyes, and so probably had an acute sense of vision. The only specimen was found on the Jan Juc beach, where the remains of the extinct whales "Mammalodon", "Prosqualodon" and "Waipatia" have also been discovered.
Janjucetus | 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
Carolinacetus is an extinct protocetid early whale found in the Bartonian () Tupelo Bay Formation (, paleocoordinates ) in Berkeley County, South Carolina. "Carolinacetus" is known from an incomplete cranium with portions of the right inner ear, a detached rostrum, and parts of both mandibles with 11 teeth. Preserved from the postcranium are 13 vertebrae and 15 ribs. The holotype was collected in 1994. Several anatomical features identifies "Carolinacetus" as a protocetid (and therefore as a member of Pelagiceti) including: external nares are located above the canine, the supraoccipital (in cetaceans, the part of the occipital bone located above the foramen magnum and directed backwards) is narrow and tubular, accessory cusps absent on M, a broad connection between the ectotympanic bulla and the falciform process of the squamosal, axis vertebra with large vertebral foramen.
Carolinacetus | Introduction
Minke whales were individually identified using the shape of the dorsal fin and nicks along its edges, variations in lateral body pigmentation, and small oval scars in three separate study sites on the western coast of North America. These individuals showed strong small-scale site fidelity. A total of 55 whales were identified, 30 in the San Juan Islands of Washington state from 1980 to 1984, 17 in the Monterey Bay area of central California from 1984 to 1987, and eight in the Johnstone Strait area of British Columbia from 1981 to 1987 – although in the last region most were only photographed incidentally to the study of killer whales.
Common minke whale | Site fidelity
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
This marine species was found from Cape Lisburne, Arctic Ocean, south to Esteros Bay, California, USA.
Propebela pribilova | Distribution
Sperm whales have 21 pairs of chromosomes (2n=42). The genome of live whales can be examined by recovering shed skin.
Sperm whale | Genetics
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
The shallow lagoon waters in which gray whales reproduce are believed to protect the newborn from sharks and orcas. On 7 January 2014, a pair of newborn or aborted conjoined twin gray whale calves were found dead in the Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Scammon's Lagoon), off the west coast of Mexico. They were joined by their bellies.
Gray whale | Reproduction
In 1999 and 2000, an unidentified species of rorqual was repeatedly seen in the waters of Komodo National Park. They were small (most estimated to be only in length) with asymmetrical coloration similar to the fin whale, only had a single prominent ridge on the rostrum, and an extremely hooked dorsal fin. At first, they were tentatively identified as a "pygmy or regionally distinct" form of Bryde's whale, which was confirmed when one was photographed and biopsied in October 2000 and its tissue sample sent to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. There, its DNA was analyzed and found to be a complete match with a "pygmy Bryde's" sample obtained from the Philippines – later, however, it was discovered samples from the Philippines corresponded to "B.
Omura's whale | Sightings
In Ghana, a dwarf sperm whale was taken by fishermen from Apam in 1998. Two unidentified Kogia sp. were landed, one at Shama in 1994 and another at Apam in 2003. Very little information is available on sperm whales in the Gulf of Guinea, however females and juveniles are believed to be present throughout the year beyond the continental shelf. This is because two dead sperm whales were washed ashore, first near Accra in 1994 and a second at Dixcove in 2002.
Cetacean strandings in Ghana | Sperm whales
In February 1867, a fisherman found an estimated male rorqual floating in the Río de la Plata near Belgrano, about ten miles from Buenos Aires, Argentina. After bringing it ashore he brought it to the attention of the German Argentine zoologist Hermann Burmeister, who described it as a new species, "Balaenoptera bonaerensis", the same year. The skeleton of another specimen, a individual taken off Otago Head, South Island, New Zealand, in October 1873, was sent by Professor Frederick Hutton, keeper of the Otago Museum in Dunedin, to the British Museum in London, where it was examined by the British zoologist John Edward Gray, who described it as a new species of "pike whale" (minke whale, "B.
Antarctic minke whale | History
perrini" can primarily be found in oceanic waters that are over 1,000 m in depth.
Perrin's beaked whale | Distribution and status
Although typically seen offshore, it has been found closer to land, entering lagoons or coral atolls, and near the mouths of estuaries and rivers. Its range is generally restricted to about 30° latitude or lower. It is capable of diving to depths of at least , and is migratory. On 7 February 2012, a large whale shark was found floating off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan. The length of the specimen was said to be between , with a weight of around . In 2011, more than 400 whale sharks gathered off the Yucatan Coast. It was one of the largest gatherings of whale sharks recorded.
Whale shark | Distribution and habitat
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
"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
Fossils located in 2001 in the Balochistan Province of Pakistan showed that "Artiocetus" had both an astragalus and cuboid bone in the ankle (a diagnostic traits of artiodactyls), suggesting that early whales had fore and hind limbs. The distribution of fossils in Indo-Pakistan, Africa, Europe, and North America suggests that this species preferred a warmer sea climate, preferably in the tropics. There is no commonly agreed ancestry of the whale, but they are thought to have evolved from an early group of carnivorous even-toed ungulates. DNA studies have suggested that the hippopotamus is the closest land relative to the whale.
Artiocetus | Fossil finds
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 four species of the Balaenidae are found in temperate and polar waters; "Eubalaena glacialis" (North Atlantic right whale), "Eubalaena japonica" (North Pacific right whale), "Eubalaena australis" (southern right whale), and "Balaena mysticetus" (bowhead whale). Bowhead and right whales can reach up to 18 meters in length and over 100 tons at maturity.
Balaenidae | Distribution
Qaisracetus is an extinct protocetid early whale known from the Eocene (Lutetian, ) of Baluchistan, Pakistan (, paleocoordinates ).
Qaisracetus | Introduction
The coastal form near Japan is slightly smaller, with adult males averaging and adult females . At sexual maturity, males average and females near Japan. Sexual maturity is reached at 8–11 years for both sexes in the offshore form off South Africa. At birth, they are . The body mass of Bryde's whales can range .
Bryde's whale | Size
According to the California/Oregon/Washington NOAA stock assessment report the Baird's beaked whales can be found in the deep waters along the continental slopes of the North Pacific Ocean. They are often seen along the slope between late spring to early fall. Specimens have been recorded as far north as the Bering Sea and as far south as the Baja California Peninsula. They are also found on the east side and the southern islands (Izu and Bonin Islands) of Japan on the west although it is unclear whether records at these islands are of "Berardius bairdii". Southern limits of historical occurrences in east Asian were unclear, while there had been either a stranding or a catch in East China Sea at Zhoushan Islands in the 1950s, and was a disentanglement at Kamae, Ōita.
Berardius | Baird's
Mediterranean population are generally smaller, reaching just above 20 m (65.5 ft) at maximum, or possibly up to . In the North Pacific, the longest reported were three 22.9 m (75 ft) males, two caught off California between 1919 and 1926 and the other caught off Alaska in 1925, and a 24.7 m (81 ft) female also caught off California, while the longest reliably measured were a 21 m (69 ft) male caught off British Columbia in 1959 and a 22.9 m (75 ft) female caught off central California between 1959 and 1970.
Fin whale | Size
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
All were physically mature with the exception of the smallest female. Of individuals found stranded in Taiwan and Thailand between 1983 and 2004, five males ranged in length from , while two females were , respectively – a specimen of unknown sex that stranded in 1983 in Phuket Province, Thailand, was in length. Of 16 "Bryde's whales" caught by hunters from Pamilacan between 1991 and 1993, 12 were measured. These cluster into two size categories, nine whales less than , and three or more. Later, 85% (24 of 28) of the identified skull specimens examined from the Bohol Sea were found to be Omura's whales, whereas only 15% (4 of 28) were what was tentatively called the Indo-Pacific form of Bryde's whale ("B.
Omura's whale | Size
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
Since the discovery of the type specimen, it has been found off the eastern coast of the United States, Ireland, the Canary Islands, western Africa, and Ascension Island. In August 2001, a specimen was found off São Paulo, Brazil; the southernmost specimen found to date. The species is believed to be naturally rare, and no population estimates have been attempted. Although this species frequently strands, until 1998, no one had made a confirmed sighting of the species. Since then, only ten other sightings have occurred. There had been a possible stranding of this species in Israel.
Gervais' beaked whale | Population and distribution
The species was first discovered in the form of two arm crowns found in the stomach of a sperm whale in the winter of 1924-1925. This species, then named "Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni", was formally described by Guy Coburn Robson 1925.
Colossal squid | First specimens
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
Currently (2019), Perrin's beaked whales have only been found near North Pacific waters off the coast of central and southern California. Stranded Perrin's beaked whales have been found along the Californian coast between Torrey Pines State Reserve, just north of San Diego (32°55’N, 117°15’W) and Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey (36°37’N, 121°55’W). It is believed these whales inhabit the offshore waters of the Pacific coast of North America (and possibly elsewhere in the North Pacific) in waters 1,000 meters deep or more. However, the northern and southern limits of its range are entirely unknown. There is no current information on the home range and migratory behaviors of these whales, although biogeography of beaked whales suggests it does not reach the Equator.
Perrin's beaked whale | Distribution and status
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
Based on the examination of 130 specimens and of beaks found inside sperm whales, giant squids' mantles are not known to exceed . Including the head and arms, but excluding the tentacles, the length very rarely exceeds . Maximum total length, when measured relaxed "post mortem", is estimated at or for females and for males from the posterior fins to the tip of the two long tentacles.
Giant squid | Size
"C. diadema" is found on the external surface of whales. When discussing this species, the zoologist Charles Darwin (who devoted much of his career to barnacles) stated that he knew of the precise locations where four specimens were found, the arctic seas around Scandinavia, the east coast of North America, near the coast of the British Isles, and from the Gulf Stream. Another reported location was New Zealand, but Darwin suspected that this was an error, and might be "Coronula reginae". The host whales are mostly baleen whales, particularly humpback whales ("Megaptera novaengliae"), with the barnacles attaching themselves to the head, the flukes, the flippers, various grooves and the genital slit.
Coronula diadema | Distribution and habitat
Year-round confirmations indicate possible residents off pelagic north eastern to central Chile such as around coastal and Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve, east of Juan Fernández Islands, and northeast of Easter Island and possible wintering ground exist for eastern south Pacific population. They are known to make mixed groups with other rorquals such as blue whales and sei whales. Their recovery is confirmed vicinity to various subantarctic islands such as South Georgia and Falkland, but unknown in other historical habitats including Campbell Island, Kermadec to Chatham Islands, Tristan da Cunha, and Gough Island.
Fin whale | South Pacific
Regularly occurring or distinct populations exist off Northwest Europe, California, Patagonia, the Crozet Islands, Marion Island, southern Australia and New Zealand. The northwest Atlantic population of at least 67 individuals ranges from Labrador and Newfoundland to New England with sightings to Cape Cod and Long Island. Information for offshore regions and warmer waters is more scarce, but widespread sightings indicate that the killer whale can survive in most water temperatures. They have been sighted, though more infrequently, in the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, Banderas Bay on Mexico's west coast and the Caribbean. Over 50 individual whales have been documented in the northern Indian Ocean, including two individuals that were sighted in the Persian Gulf in 2008 and off Sri Lanka in 2015.
Killer whale | Range and habitat
Battles between sperm whales and giant squid or colossal squid have never been observed by humans; however, white scars are believed to be caused by the large squid. One study published in 2010 collected evidence that suggests that female sperm whales may collaborate when hunting Humboldt squid. Tagging studies have shown that sperm whales hunt upside down at the bottom of their deep dives. It is suggested that the whales can see the squid silhouetted above them against the dim surface light. An older study, examining whales captured by the New Zealand whaling fleet in the Cook Strait region, found a 1.69:1 ratio of squid to fish by weight.
Sperm whale | Diet
This species has been observed near sea ice in the Antarctic.
Long-finned pilot whale | Current distribution
"Livyatan" is the largest fossil sperm whale discovered, and was also one of the biggest-known predators, having the largest bite of any tetrapod.
Livyatan | Description
This marine species is found along Sumatra, Indonesia.
Punctoterebra fuscotaeniata | Distribution