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Question
#44112. sequoianoir
asks:
Whales! Blue Whales are blue? Grey ones grey? Humpbacks have humps? Why are Sperm Whales so called?
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mibmob
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Much of the bulk of a sperm whale's enormous head is taken up by a barrel-shaped organ called the case. Inside the case is a clear, liquid oil that when cooled, hardens to resemble white paraffin.
Because whalers thought this stuff looked like whale sperm, they called it spermaceti and named the animal a sperm whale.
Spermaceti was used as lubricant and lamp fuel until around the end of the 19th century when petroleum products replaced it.
 http://www.susanscott.net/OceanWatch1997/dec29-97.html
Feb 07 04, 12:25 PM
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sequoianoir
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Thanks Mibs. I've often wondered and never looked it up.
Does anyone know what the barrel-shaped "case" and "clear liquid oil" are for?
Does this organ and substance exist in all whales to some degree?
Feb 07 04, 12:42 PM
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TheAlphaWolf
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It's also called the mellon and is used for echolocation. (beluga whales can move it... it's really creepy to look at their foreheads moving like that) It is thought (the other "big bang" theory) that maybe sperm whales have such big mellons because they shock their pray with sound waves but it hasn't been proved yet. And as far as I know it does exist in all whales... because as far as I know all whales use echolocation.
Feb 07 04, 6:03 PM
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