- Animals
- ›Chordates
- ›Vertebrates
- ›Mammals
- ›Therians
- ›Placental Mammals
- ›Ungulates, Carnivorans, and Allies
- ›Even-toed Ungulates and Cetaceans
- ›Cetaceans and Hippopotamuses
- ›Cetaceans
- ›Toothed Whales
- ›Sperm Whales
- ›True Sperm Whales

True Sperm Whales
Physeter
The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) or cachalot /ˈkæʃəˌlɒt, ˈkæʃəˌloʊ/ is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia.
1 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 1 known species
See this branch on the Wheel of Life →Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries

History of Animals, Book II: On Oviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1586 · p.735

De Piscibus Libri V et De Cetis Liber Unus
Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1661 · p.748

History of Animals, Book II: On Oviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1586 · p.538

History of Animals, Book II: On Oviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1586 · p.538
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Physeter in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 41435.
