Introduction; Properties of Spermaceti Organ;Application;Buoyancy;Echolocation;Heat Exchange

1. SEMINAR BY
KUNAL
MSc. MARINE BIOLOGY
!st YEAR

3. Name comes from the whales historical past when whalers used to hunt for
their blubber and spermaceti oil.
Originally believed to be semen

4. SPERMACETI
ORGAN
Head of toothed
whales of the family
Physeteroidea
A waxy liquid
called
spermaceti
Like an elongated
barrel and sits on top
of the whale's melon.
Almost a
quarter of its entire
body
C
O
L
O
U
R
Pearly white
Fishy Odour

5. Buoyancy
Echolocation
Heat exchange
Pomade
Leatherworking
Industrial Lubricants.
Dressing of fabrics
As a pharmaceutical excipient, especially cosmetic
products, as a moisturiser and as a carrier oil for
fragrances
APPLICATIONS

6. Spermwhale-Heatingthespermaceti
Loweringitsdensity
Allowingthewhaleto float
In orderfor the whale to sink again
It musttake waterintoitsblowhole
Coolsthe spermacetiinto a densersolid

7. Emitted a series of clicks during their dives
Clicks enable to find prey by echolocation
As it descend into the depths, the frequency of clicks increases
Enabling to obtain detailed information of position and movements
Clicking frequency continues to increase as it approach their prey, until the clicks are so close
together that they sound like a continuous buzz
Whales descended an average of 392m between the start of regular clicking and the first buzz, which
corresponds to the point at which they are about to catch a squid.
Regular clicks function as a long-range biological sonar

8. Oil within the spermaceti case
would be cooled by water
drawn into the expansive right
nare by large muscles inserted
in the case wall, by muscles in
the spermaceti tissue, and by
muscles ventral to the nare.
Cooling of the part of the organ
termed the junk is certainly
possible through the skin of the
head by dilation of the
peripheral blood vessels
It is contained in minute
vesicles held within a dense
network of capillaries so that
the circulation could heat the
oil rapidly.

9. Under the supervision of Dr . R. MOHANRAJU
JOURNALS
Nature vol.228 nov 28 1970
Journal of the American Cetacean Society
Ecological Society‘s Journal of Animal Ecology
The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 1755–1763 (2002) 1755
WEBSITE
www.nature.com/articles/228873a0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spermaceti_organ
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19720017437.pdf
BIBLIOGRAPHY