Re: Beaked whale and spermaceti

From: Catherine Schaeff (schaeff@american.edu)
Date: Fri Mar 11 2005 - 18:57:26 EST

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    Hi Josiane,
     
    From what I have been able to find, the spermaceti appears to be unique to the sperm whale. In the paper, The face that sank the Essex: potential function of the spermaceti organ in aggression (http://autodax.net/Carrieretal2002.pdf), the authors indicate that only the sperm whale has this organ.
     
    best,
    Cathy Schaeff
    Associate Professor and Chair
    Department of Biology
    American University
    101 Hurst Hall, 4400 Mass. Ave. NW,
    Washington DC 20016-8007
    p: 202.885.2194, f: 202.885.2182
    schaeff@american.edu

    -----Josiane Cabana <jcabana@gremm.org> wrote: -----

    To: <schaeff@american.edu>, <pita@whale.wheelock.edu>
    From: Josiane Cabana <jcabana@gremm.org>
    Date: 02/25/2005 02:15PM
    Subject: Beaked whale and spermaceti

    Hi,

    I would like to know if beaked whales (ou Ziphiids) have a spermaceti organ
    in thier head like the sperm whale?
    We have here a skull of a northern bottlenose whale femele and we prepare an
    informative text on it for our interpretation centrer.
    Thanks a lot for your help,

    Josiane Cabana

    Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals
    GREMM
    108 de la Cale sèche
    Tadoussac, Qc, Canada G0T 2A0

    email: jcabana@gremm.org
    http://www.whales-online.net



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