Pygmy Sperm Whales
Kogia breviceps · Toothed whale
The pygmy sperm whale is a small, shark-shaped toothed whale that spends most of its life far offshore, making it one of the least-observed large mammals on Earth.
Classification
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Cetacea |
| Family | Kogiidae |
| Genus | Kogia |
| Species | breviceps |
Description
Pygmy sperm whales have a small, underslung jaw and a blunt, shark-like head, with a false gill-like crease behind the eye and bluish-gray coloring that fades to pink underneath.
Size
Adults measure 9 to 11.5 feet in length and weigh 700 to 1,000 pounds, among the smallest whales in the sperm whale superfamily.
Did You Know?
A pygmy sperm whale defends itself by releasing a cloud of reddish-brown fluid into the water, a defense strategy remarkably similar to a squid inking.
Habitat
Pygmy sperm whales live in deep offshore waters along the continental shelf edge worldwide and are rarely sighted alive; most is known from strandings.
Diet
They dive deep to feed on squid, octopus, and deep-sea fish, often at depths beyond where sunlight reaches.
Behavior
When threatened, a pygmy sperm whale can release a reddish-brown intestinal fluid into the water, clouding it much like squid ink to help it escape predators.