Sperm Whale
The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest toothed predator, with males reaching about 16 meters. It dives thousands of meters to hunt squid and has the largest brain of any animal. It is listed as Vulnerable.
The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest toothed predator, with males reaching about 16 meters. It dives thousands of meters to hunt squid and has the largest brain of any animal. It is listed as Vulnerable.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Sperm Whale in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Mammals lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
The Loudest Animal: What Is the Spermaceti Organ?
The enormous head contains a waxy organ (spermaceti) that helps generate and focus very loud clicks, up to about 230 decibels, used for echolocation. The sounds can find squid at great depth. The oil was long prized for lamps and candles.
Deep Dives for Squid
Sperm whales dive for an hour or more to depths of over a kilometer. Their prey includes giant squid, and the bodies of many whales carry scars from battles with them. See Giant Squid.
Whaling and Culture
The species was hunted heavily in the 18th to 20th centuries, which inspired Moby-Dick. Females live in family groups whose members share a repertoire of click patterns, called codas, that differ between clans, a form of animal culture.
Sperm Whale at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Physeter macrocephalus |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Cetartiodactyla |
| Family | Physeteridae |
| Field Guide group | Mammals: Eutheria (Placentals) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Enormous block-shaped head housing the spermaceti organ, asymmetric single blowhole, deepest diving toothed apex predator. |
| IUCN Red List status | Vulnerable (VU) |
| Brain | The largest of any animal |
See Also
- Giant Squid — its main prey
- Blue Whale — a baleen whale