Published November 19, 2018 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Physeter catodon Linnaeus 1758

Description

Physeter catodon Linnaeus, 1758 —Sperm Whale, cachalot

Physeter catodon Linnaeus, 1758 p.76; Type locality- Middenpiat, Netherland; Kuroda, 1938 p.13; Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p.721; Won, 1968 p.230.

P. macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758 p.76; Type locality- North Atlantic (European Seas); Kim et al., 2000 p.70; Kim, 2004 p.227.

Range: The sperm whale has a sporadically occurrence in the seas surrounding Korea (Kim 2004; Fig. 84). A group of eight sperm whales occurred in the East Sea, 15 km from Pohang in 2004 (Dr. H. S. Sohn, Korean Cetacean Research Institute, Pers. Comm.). One dead individual beached on Ui-do (island) in the southern Yellow Sea in 2005 (Mokpo Coast Guard, unpublished data).

Remarks: Linnaeus used both P. catodon and P. macrocephalus to designate the sperm whale. Physeter catodon has line priority, whereas Linnaeus used P. macrocephalus for the type specimen. Here, we followed the taxonomy of Wilson and Reeder (2005).

Conservation status: The South Korean government designated the sperm whale a Protected Marine Species in 2007. CITES currently lists the species on Appendix I under P. microcephalus. Based on our information, North Korea is not involved in the conservation of this whale.

Notes

Published as part of Jo, Yeong-Seok, Baccus, John T. & Koprowski, John L., 2018, Mammals of Korea: a review of their taxonomy, distribution and conservation status, pp. 1-216 in Zootaxa 4522 (1) on pages 128-129, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4522.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/2610198

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Family
Physeteridae
Genus
Physeter
Kingdom
Animalia
Order
Cetacea
Phylum
Chordata
Scientific name authorship
Linnaeus
Species
catodon
Taxon rank
species
Taxonomic concept label
Physeter catodon Linnaeus, 1758 sec. Jo, Baccus & Koprowski, 2018

References

  • Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Fol. 1. 10 th Edition. Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, 824 pp. [in Latin]
  • Kuroda, N. (1938) A list of the Japanese Mammals. Published by Author, Tokyo, 122 pp.
  • Ellerman, J. R. & Morrison-Scott, T. C. S. (1951) Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian Mammals 1758 to 1946. British Museum (Natural History), London, 810 pp.
  • Won, H. K. (1968) The mammals of Korea. Institute of Science Press, Pyeongyang, 408 pp. [in Korean]
  • Kim, Z. G., Lee, J. U., Baik, C. I., Sohn, H. S., Park, C. S., Lee, D. W., Choi, K. H., Hong, B. Q., Kim, S. T., Park, J. H., Cho, Y. M., Cha, H. K. & Hwang, K. S. (2000) Whales and Dolphins off Korean Peninsula. National Fisheries Research & Development Institute, Busan, 137 pp. [in Korean]
  • Kim, Z. G. (2004) Suborder Pinnipedia & Order Cetacea. In: Won, B. O. (Ed.), The mammals of Korea. Dongbang Media Press, Seoul, pp. 184 - 254. [in Korean]
  • Wilson, D. E. & Reeder, D. M. (Eds.) (2005) Mammal species of the world, 3 rd Ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2000 pp.