Length 18 ~ 25m, weight 20 ~ 25t.
Its body color is grayish yellow, and its head is particularly large and wedge-shaped, accounting for 1/3 of its body length. Its body is short, slow and clumsy, and it is easy to be killed.
The existing inventory decreased from 850,000 to 430,000.
sperm whale
Its back is dark black, and its abdomen is silver gray or white.
The head is particularly large, accounting for 1/4 ~ 1/3 of the body length.
The upper jaw and snout are square barrels, and the lower jaw is thin, narrow in front and wide in back, which is extremely disproportionate to the upper jaw.
20 ~ 28 pairs of conical long and narrow teeth, each pair of teeth has a diameter of 10 cm and a length of more than 20 cm.
The water spray hole is on the left side of the front end of the head, only communicating with the left nostril, and the right nostril is blocked, but communicating with the lungs, which can be used as a gas storage box. When breathing, the spray column leans 45 degrees to the left and front.
No dorsal fin.
The flippers are short.
The caudal fin is wide, about 360 ~ 450 cm wide.
It often forms 5 ~ 10, up to 200 ~ 300 groups.
Strong sexual desire.
The staple food is squid, octopus and fish.
During the breeding period, the competition between females is very fierce.
The gestation period is 12 ~ 16 months.
Each litter only produces 1 litter, and occasionally there are 2 litters. The nest is 4-5 meters long and the lactation period is 1-2 years. Sexual maturity at the age of 7-8, and the longest life expectancy can reach 75 years.
Distributed in the world's major oceans, most of them live in the warm sea near the equator, and very few reach the Arctic Circle.
In China, it is distributed in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea and Taiwan Province Province.
Its intestinal secretion is a very precious spice "Long Xianxiang", so it is often hunted and killed. Now it is very rare, and it is listed in Appendix I of Chapter I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. 12.
Typical habit
Atlas of sperm whales
Sperm whales belong to physeteridae, the largest species of Toothed Whales. The longest for men is 23m, and the longest for women is17m. Their bodies are conical, their heads account for about 1/3 of their body length, and their maxilla is blunt, far exceeding their mandibles.
Because of its huge head, it is also known as the "giant whale".
The top-heavy body of sperm whale is very suitable for diving. In addition, they like to eat huge cephalopods, most of which live in the deep sea. Sperm whales often "hold their breath" 1.5 hours because of chasing giant squid, and can dive to the deep sea of 2200 meters, so they are the champions of mammalian diving.
sperm whale
The English name of sperm whale comes from the word Spermaceti. This is because its square giant has oily wax in a special storage device, and the whale wax organ in its head acts as a super conductor. It has an extremely sensitive detection system, namely "sonar", which can listen to its echo with the click of ultrasonic waves, so as to search for food in the dark deep sea, and use "sonar" instead of underdeveloped small eyes.
Sperm whales often struggle with the largest invertebrate king squid. The largest king squid 18 meters, weighing 30 tons.
Someone once saw a fierce battle between sperm whales and giant squid in the tropical ocean. They came from the deep sea to the shallow sea. Either the sperm whale ate the king squid, or the king squid suffocated the giant whale with his wrist. In that case, the sperm whale will become a "good meal" for the king squid.
Sperm whales' love for giant squid is the source of Long Xianxiang, one of the most precious seafood.
Sperm whales swallow giant squid in one gulp, but they can't digest squid's parrot mouth. At this time, the sperm whale is exposed to * * * at the end of the large intestine or the beginning of the rectum, producing a gray or blackish secretion, and gradually forming a thick dark substance in the small intestine, weighing 100- 1000 grams, which used to be 420 kilograms.
Its maximum diameter is 165cm, and this substance is called "Long Xianxiang".
It is stored in the colon and rectum. It stinks when I first took it out. After storage for a period of time, it gradually smells better than "musk".
Long Xianxiang contains 25% dracorhodin, which is the raw material of precious perfume and the best substance to keep perfume fragrant. It is used as a fixative.
At the same time, it is also a valuable Chinese medicine, which has the effects of resolving phlegm and resolving hard mass, benefiting qi and promoting blood circulation.
But not often, occasionally get a piece weighing 50 ~ 100 kg, it will be priceless, hence the name sperm whale.
Sperm whale photo album
In addition, the huge skull cavity of sperm whale contains a large amount of whale brain oil (colorless and transparent liquid), which is crystallized into white and odorless crystals called whale wax by squeezing. It is a good industrial raw material, which can be used to make candles, soaps, medicines and cosmetics, and also to refine high-grade lubricating oil.
Sperm whale meat is delicious, edible and tanned.
Sperm whales are distributed all over the world, mainly in tropical and temperate waters, usually between 40 degrees north and south latitude.
They are distributed in the waters of China. They often wander in groups of 5-20, with more males and fewer females. Generally, the swimming speed is 2.5-3 nautical miles per hour, and it can reach 7- 12 nautical miles when it is frightened.
In the way of reproduction, sperm whales have one male and many females. Sperm whale babies generally begin to mature around 10 years old after birth.
On April 8, 1978, a male sperm whale ran aground in Jiaonan County, Shandong Province. It is 14 meter long and weighs 22 tons. Initially identified as 37 years old.
This whale is a specimen made by Qingdao Institute of Oceanography, China Academy of Sciences. Now it is on display in Qingdao Seafood Museum, attracting many tourists and making people linger.
The whale's skeletal system was also erected and exhibited to the audience in May 1995. This is the most complete toothed whale skeleton system in China, which shows the fact that whales entered the sea from land during the long historical journey.
Wonderful pictures of sperm whales
At the beginning of 2008, a sperm whale weighing 48 tons ran aground and died in Rongcheng, Weihai. A few months later, it was made into bone specimens and skin specimens. Now it's on display at the Liu Gongdao Whale Museum with Long Xianxiang.
This is the largest sperm whale stranded in Asia at present.
The sperm whale looks strange, with a heavy head and a light tail, like a giant tadpole. Its huge head accounts for about 1/4- 1/3 of its body length, and the whole head seems to be a big box.
Its nose is also very strange, only its left nostril is smooth, and it is located above the left front, and its right nostril is blocked, so the fog column it breathes is sprayed to the left front at an angle of 45.
Sperm whales like to live in groups, often forming small groups of 5- 10, and sometimes forming large groups of hundreds.
Sometimes they play naughty with each other at sea.
But its temperament is completely different from that of blue whales and humpback whales. It is very fierce and powerful, and once other animals are bitten by it, it is difficult to escape.
Sperm whales preying on king squid is the most thrilling battle. In a fight, the two sides will jump out of the water together, just like a flat mountain. Generally speaking, the former often wins, but sometimes the latter escapes with a smoke screen. It was found that the king squid in the sperm whale's belly was not bitten by teeth, and some people stayed in the sperm whale's belly for a day and a night without dying.
This shows that sperm whales have strong teeth, but they don't chew food entirely by their teeth.
Sperm whales sometimes "conceive" freaks, usually gray or slightly black wax, which smells bad when it is just taken out of the body, amber after drying, sweet and sour.
This is the famous Long Xianxiang.
Long Xianxiang itself doesn't have much fragrance, but it smells like musk when it burns, and it is farther than musk. The things smoked by it have a lasting fragrance, hence the name sperm whale.
Sperm whale meat tastes delicious, similar to beef, and can be eaten raw or canned. Tough leather can be used as raw material for tanning; Body oil, brain oil and Long Xianxiang are its three treasures, which have high economic value.
Sperm whales are also diving champions among marine animals. They can go in and out of the deep sea thousands of meters deep and stay for nearly an hour.
So why can sperm whales dive so deep? Some people think that this may be related to its preference for hunting king squid.
In order to get this delicious food, sperm whales have to dive into the deep sea often, and over time they have formed an adaptation to the deep sea environment.
This is a true story: during World War II, when an American warship was driving at night, its hull suddenly shook violently. Many officers and men thought they had hit rocks or mines, so they took action and prepared to dive for their lives.
After inspection, it was found that the warship hit a sperm whale that was sleeping soundly.
Sperm whale optimization map
China's ancient book "Guang Yi Ji" records: "At the end of Kaiyuan, Duke Lei and whales fought in Leizhou. There are dozens of tripterygium wilfordii out of the water, up and down in the air, or arson or electric shock, for seven days.
Residents at the seaside looked at it. They didn't know what they had won, but they only saw that the sea was red.
It is estimated that what is described here is the fierce scene of the struggle between the sperm whale and the king squid, but the text is obviously exaggerated.
Sperm whales like to eat king squid, which is huge, and the largest individual found so far is as long as 18 meters.
It is reported that there are also squid 30 ~ 40 meters long in the depths of the ocean.
I'm afraid it's not easy for a sperm whale to swallow such a huge monster, and it needs a hard struggle, but within an hour or two at most, the squid will be buried in the sperm whale's stomach.
In addition, sperm whales also eat squid and various small fish, and their stomach capacity exceeds 300 kilograms, which is quite amazing.
thin-film material
Follow the life of an 80-year-old male sperm whale weighing 45 metric tons and witness its growth and journey to become the king of the deep sea.
Explore the magnificent deep-sea wonders of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and enter the amazing mysterious underwater world with the audience.
We also followed them and witnessed the amazing scene of their resistance to killer whale attacks, and how they came face to face with legendary creatures-mysterious 15-meter-long octopus and amazing king squid and giant squid.
When the sperm whale dives into the deep sea below 2000 meters, the deep-sea landscape is vividly presented to people-unimaginable deep-sea canyons, underwater volcanoes and the highest and longest mountains on earth.
Whales led us on a thrilling journey-from the spiral tower of the lost ancient city to the huge submarine canyon to the chimney smoking black smoke on the vast and flat land.
Through this wonderful journey, we found that the ocean has changed greatly in the past 80 years.
This ever-changing world has become more vibrant, but it is hard to imagine. It is more susceptible to change. It has the right to give this planet vitality, but it can also take it away!
Introduction to deep blue
Deep blue is a sperm whale that experienced where you will go when she was two years old, a sperm whale that has crossed the ocean for a lifetime, and a sperm whale that witnessed the increasing aggression of human beings on the ocean.
He was once the king of the deep sea.
Deep blue home, originally in the depths of the sea.
He spent most of his life in an abyss of two kilometers under the sea.
The peaks here are higher than Mount Everest, and the valleys are deeper than the Grand Canyon in America. Here, any kind of creature is more cruel and fierce than the animals on land.
At the age of 3, Deep Blue experienced a strong earthquake of magnitude 7.2.
Mother led the whole family to escape from that horrible place. Deep blue survived, but his little friend was buried at the bottom of the sea.
After going there for the first time in his life, Deep Blue started his deep-sea journey with his family.
Deep blue and her pregnant mother were besieged by a group of killer whales when the whole group went to the depths of the volcano to feed.
Deep blue was injured in this battle. She met her idol for the first time and had a little sister.
Since then, his life has changed.
At the age of 0/2, Deep Blue/Kloc-was fighting giant squid in the deep sea, and her mother was murdered by a human whaling ship.
The 30-year-old Shen Lan completed a great journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
50-year-old deep blue, countless scars on her body are enough to shock her opponent.
He defeated his young rival in love, won the favor of a group of Pacific female sperm whales, and turned a new page in his life.
80-year-old Shen Lan is already an old hand in the deep sea.
Because of the threat of human beings, he was forced to migrate to Antarctica, but when he arrived in the Hawaiian waters, he was involved in a human war and met an unprecedented underwater monster.
In his 80-year career, Deep Blue has completed nearly half a million dives. He once hunted with his friends on the volcanic mountain between Greenland and Falkland Islands. He once bypassed the Cape of Good Hope and reached the Pacific Ocean, where he began a hard life.
In the ocean, Deep Blue has more than 60 children.
Controversial event
2016 February 14 On Valentine's Day, a stranded sperm whale weighing 33 tons was found in Rudong Beach on the coast of northern Jiangsu.
Just when people marveled that the sperm whale first appeared on Rudong coastal beach, the next day, another same behemoth was found on the beach 10 km away.
Is this second sperm whale a pair with the first one? In the atmosphere of Valentine's Day, people began to imagine.
Because the beach where sperm whales run aground is far from the coast, experts can't identify their sex immediately.
Following the salvage of a sperm whale on June 5438+06, the relevant departments of Rudong County successfully salvaged another sperm whale, and experts announced the reliable appraisal results.
20 17 At 6: 30pm on June 2nd, a sperm whale with a length of12m swam into Daya Bay, Huizhou.
It is understood that this sperm whale was injured by a fishing net in Dapeng waters of Shenzhen. After being rescued, he got out of trouble and swam to the waters of Daya Bay in Huizhou. It has been stranded in the waters near Huizhou Port for many times. 14 that night, experts thought that it was basically hopeless and they could only die of natural causes, and then they studied and made specimens.
On the afternoon of March 15, the sperm whale declared dead after the rescue failed was towed to Huizhou Wharf and hoisted away.
On March 201July 16, Huizhou Fisheries Research and Extension Center, Guangdong Province dissected a stranded sperm whale and accidentally found the placenta in it.
The baby whale taken out of the placenta died.
Fetal weight of sperm whale 1 10.5 kg, 2 meters long, male.