Family PHYSETERIDAE

(SPERM WHALE)

• Largest of the toothed whales with a disproportionately large, box-like head containing the spermaceti organ complex, and flat paddle-shaped foreflippers; conical teeth on narrow lower jaw; most sexually dimorphic cetacean in body length and weight.

• 1100-1500 cm.

• Cosmopolitan, inhabiting all the world’s oceans.

Deep, ice-free oceanic waters.

1 genus, 1 species, 1 taxon.

I species Vulnerable; none Extinct since 1600 Systematics