Sperm whale
Physeter macrocephalus
Valid name. Physeter catodon is an older synonym.
- English
- Sperm whale
- Scientific
- Physeter macrocephalus
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Sperm whales
- Maximum size
- Males up to about 16-18 m; females to about 11-12 m
- Depth and habitat
- Deep oceanic waters beyond the atoll slopes; dives to 1,000 m or more
- IUCN status
- VU · VulnerableVulnerable (VU)
Description
The largest toothed whale, with a massive square head making up about a third of its body, a narrow lower jaw lined with conical teeth and wrinkled, dark grey skin. Its single blow is angled forwards and to the left. It dives for up to an hour to depths of a kilometre or more to hunt squid, using powerful echolocation clicks. Females and young live in stable family units, while adult males roam more widely.
In the Maldives
The species most often found stranded in the Maldives (57 strandings recorded to 2012), many found floating dead at sea. Ambergris from sperm whales, called 'maavaharu' in Dhivehi, has been traded from the Maldives since ancient times. Northern Maldives was a 19th-century sperm-whaling ground.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Physeter-macrocephalus.html
- mammalwatching.com /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Maldives-cetaceans-review-2012.pdf
- mrc.gov.mv /assets/Uploads/2005-Observations-of-cetaceans-in-the-Maldives-1990-20
- marinemammalhabitat.org /wp-content/uploads/imma-factsheets/WesternIndianOcean/Maldives-archip
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Mother_and_baby_sperm_whale.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-specific Dhivehi name found. Anderson (2005) reports that Maldivian fishermen do not generally distinguish whale species and call large whales 'bodumas' ('big fish').