Physeter macrocephalus
Sperm Whale
i
2026-08-05: itis_id 180488 via WoRMS external link
The sperm whale or cachalot is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale superfamily Physeteroidea, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia.W CalCOFI holds 44 observations of it in 2 datasets between 1987 and 2022.R
- 44
- observations
- 44
- records
- 43
- sampling events
- 1987–2022
- years
- 2
- datasets
- 24 m
- max length
Observed in 2 datasetsi
One row per dataset, and beside it one cell per year, darker with more observations — the same
strip the front door draws per dataset. Each row ends with the name that dataset uses
(dataset_taxon); the accepted name is written once, in the title above. A quiet
pill marks a name the authority does not accept.
i
One row per dataset, and beside it one cell per year, darker with more observations — the same strip the front door draws per dataset. Each row ends with the name that dataset uses (dataset_taxon); the accepted name is written once, in the title above. A quiet pill marks a name the authority does not accept.
-
name used: Physeter macrocephalus Sperm Whale · code
SPWH -
name used: Physeter macrocephalus · code
urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:137119
Ways inExplorerdb-queryERDDAPRPythonThis page as JSON
Code and endpoints ERDDAP · R · Python · JSON
library(calcofi4r) con <- cc_get_db() # the promoted release tbl(con, "obs_bio") |> filter(taxon_key == "worms:137119")
import calcofi4py as cc
con = cc.cc_get_db()
con.sql("SELECT * FROM obs_bio WHERE taxon_key = 'worms:137119'").df()Read from taxa.json of release v2026.10.20, written at release by calcofi4db::build_taxa_catalog(). The catalog's index is /species/.
How big is it 24 m max
Every mark is a measured length with its own source — hover one to read it. The reference objects are _data/size_reference.csv: two of them, the 505 µm bongo mesh and the net's ring, are CalCOFI's own sampling gear.
Lineage 14 ranks · Biota to Physeter
Credits silhouette · photo · text · length
- Silhouette · T. Michael Keesey · CC BY-SA 3.0 · PhyloPic, drawn from Physeter macrocephalus · source
- Photo · Gabriel Barathieu · CC BY-SA 2.0 · commons · source
- Text · Wikipedia, “Sperm whale” · CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1372958054
- Length · sealifebase
Elsewhere Wikidata · iNaturalist · GBIF
The same organism on the services the faces were fetched from; the authorities' own pages are the ids in the head.
Cite the release, v2026.10.20
Cite the release, v2026.10.20; each dataset's own citation, licence and DOI are on its page. How to cite ↗