Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T13:01:52.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structure and Proportions of the Spermaceti Organ in the Sperm Whale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Malcolm R. Clarke
Malcolm R. Clarke
Affiliation:
The Laboratory, Marine Biological Association, Citadel Hill, Plymouth
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The head of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus L.), which is largely snout and the crest of the skull necessary to support it, may exceed a third of the total weight and a quarter of the length of the whale. This indicates the snout has an extremely important function but few theories regarding its function take into account the overall structure, whilst the detailed structure and proportions of the adult's snout have been almost totally neglected. Similarly, consideration of the thermal properties of the spermaceti oil, which is the most remarkable component and constitutes a large proportion of the head, have been neglected in studies of function.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , February 1978 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Beddard, F. E., 1915. Contributions to the knowledge of the anatomy of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) based upon the examination of a young foetus. Annals of Durban Museum, 1, 107–124.Google Scholar
Beddard, F. E., 1919. Further contribution to the anatomy of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) based upon the examination of two additional foetuses. Annals of Durban Museum, 2, 129–148.Google Scholar
Berzin, A. A., 1972. The Sperm Whale, v, 394 pp. Jerusalem: Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd. [Transl. Hoz, E. and Blake, Z..]Google Scholar
Clarke, M. R., 1970. The function of the spermaceti organ of the sperm whale. Nature, London, 228, 873–874.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clarke, M. R., 1978 a. Physical properties of spermaceti oil in the sperm whale. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 58, 19–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, M. R., 1978 b. Buoyancy control as a function of the spermaceti organ in the sperm whale. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 58, 27–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, W. E. & Prescott, J. H., 1972. Observations on the sound production capabilities of the bottlenose porpoise: a study of whistles and clicks. Zoologica (New York), 47, 121–128.Google Scholar
Norris, K. S., 1975. Cetacean biosonar. 1. Anatomical and behavioural studies. In Biochemical and Biophysical Perpsectives in Marine Biology, vol. 2 (ed. Malins, D. C. and Sargent, J. R.), pp. 215–236. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Norris, K. S. & Harvey, G. W., 1972. A theory for the function of the spermaceti organ of the sperm whale. In Animal Orientation and Navigation, (ed. Galler, S. R., Schmidt-Koenig, K., Jacobs, G. J. and Belleville, R. E.), 262 pp. NASA Special Publication.Google Scholar
Omura, H., 1950. On the body weight of the sperm and sei whales located in the adjacent waters of Japan. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute, 4, 1–13.Google Scholar
Parry, D. A., 1949. The structure of whale blubber and its thermal properties. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 90, 13–26.Google ScholarPubMed
Pouchet, G. & Beauregard, H., 1889. Recherches sur le cachelot: anatomie I-V. Nouvelles archives du Museum d'histoire naturelle, Paris, part 3, pp. 1–96.Google Scholar
Raven, H. C. & Gregory, W. K., 1933. The spermaceti organ and nasal passages of the sperm whale (Physeter catodon) and other odontocetes. American Museum Novitates, 677, 1–18.Google Scholar
Schenkkan, E. J. & Purves, P. E., 1973. The comparative anatomy of the nasal tract and the function of the spermaceti organ in the Physeteridae (Mammalia, Odontoceti). Bijdragen tot de dierkunde, 43, 93–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholander, P. F., 1940. Experimental investigations on the respiratory function in diving mammals and birds. Hvalrådets skrifter, 22, 1–131.Google Scholar
Spencer, M. P., Gornall, Iii T. A. & Poulter, T. C., 1967. Respiratory and cardiac activity of killer whales. Journal of Applied Physiology, 22, 974–981.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tenney, S. M. & Remmers, J. C., 1963. Comparative quantitative morphology of the mammalian lung: diffusing area. Nature, London, 197, 54–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed