McLeod?) Gibbons If these teeth are genuine, this specimen will remain an exceptional one in view of its high number of upper jaw teeth: there seem to be 11, which is close to the (rare) record number of 15. Their distributions are depend upon season and sexual/social status, however they are most likely to be found in waters inhabited by squid- at least 1,000 m deep and with cold-water upswellings. I have also a book about sperm whales which shows very well (and at large size) teeth from the upper jaw compared to those of the lover jaw. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, Press J to jump to the feed. Well now I see the inspiration for the ogres in Berserk. The reproductive cycle occurs in females every 2-5 years.

A gummy substance called ambergris forms in the large intestines of sperm whales and can be found floating on the surface of the water or washed ashore once it is expelled. that the functionally similar but slightly differently shaped tusks in Ziphiids also fill a display related, species-recognition role (similar to what's been proposed for ceratopsid dinosaurs), a suggestion I find very intriguing. Your tldr seems to be additionally claiming that the lower teeth fit into sockets that house upper teeth, should they erupt, which goes miles beyond anything in your source. The meat of the whale is not generally consumed. Phone : +1 (415) 331-1409. Though it would be neat if there is any evidence to the contrary, and that this is a real atavistic specimen? The Mammals of Louisiana and Its Adjacent Waters.

To get the upper teeth you have (in general) to rott the skull or gouge them out of the bone.

Anyway, the assertion that cetacean tooth morphology is not related to feeding ecology is simply unrealistic (and very easily tested); I'd check out papers by Alex Werth, e.g. The lower jaw contains 18 – 25 large teeth on each side of the jaw, 7-18 centimetres in length. Sperm whales roam the deep waters of all the oceans, though they seldom approach polar ice fields and are most common in temperate and tropical latitudes. The original post had it in the comments.

It may serve to focus and reflect sound or may be a cooling organ to diminish the whale's volume and its buoyancy during prolonged dives. Help us improve the site by taking our survey. OP isn't saying that sperm whales don't have upper teeth, and that source doesn't say anything about how the sockets for the lower teeth are formed. long.

Taken from: "www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/species/Spermwhale.shtml", "Sperm whale teeth are uniform. Then a fat version of the Marseillaise with orchestra, choir and a solo soprano who sounded like Piaf.

@Dartian: I saidly have no idea. They appear to be the same material as the teeth in the lower jaw. warlruses).

Also, http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/60689/name/sp_innerpage_fossi….

Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends.

I'll be back! https://deanoinamerica.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/img_6081-1024x768.jpg. teeth. When a sperm whale closes its mouth, its banana-sized teeth fit into sockets in its upper jaw. But check your e-mail. Dartian, just for curiosity, from where are you? Not a marine biologist, so anybody with actual knowledge who comes along will supersede my comment.

It entered our collection the following year.

Yes, which suggests that teeth may have another function related to sociality? Sperm whales were once quite abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, but due to commercial whaling operations, they are seldom seen in this area anymore. Contributor Galleries Bottom habitats in the very deepest oceans (below 9000 m) are sometimes referred to as the abyssal zone. In Peter Best's 'Whales and Dolphins of the Southern African subregion', he says 'although the majority of adult sperm whales have no erupted teeth in the upper jaw a few possess 9-10 pairs...smaller and strongly curved....the incidence of maxillary teeth increases with body length [comment 5 by Sordes] in both sexes with a secondary increase at a BL of 14 - 14.9 in males (coinciding with social maturity [suggesting a function?]). the body of water between Africa, Europe, the southern ocean (above 60 degrees south latitude), and the western hemisphere. To make it even more interesting, the recent fossil-derived phylogenies suggest that even though both living physeteroid genera lack upper teeth, their respective stem lineages lost the upper teeth independently. Sorry but unless you can provide sources we can't allow answers that short. Scrimshaw Collector 114 W. Magnolia Street Suite 400, Box 123 Bellingham, Washington 98225. When present they are always small, and they aren't typically rooted in alveoli. Appears to directly contradict my understanding, as there are holes in the bone itself if you look closely, but whether this is caused by the teeth as the whale grows or this is found even in babies isn't clear. Referring to an animal that lives on or near the bottom of a body of water. So with my rudimentary knowledge, I'd say that given these facts and the pictures found, the teeth themselves most likely create the sockets since the sockets do not appear to be able to fit 18 - 26 teeth randomly, but have specific holes where the teeth match the sockets. The extant sperm whale Physeter lacks functional teeth in the upper jaw and in fact even possesses special sockets in the maxillae that house the lower jaw teeth when the mouth is closed (it may actually have as many as eight teeth in each maxilla, but when it does they are unerupted and remain buried in their alveoli). When they do, they are larger and more numerous in males than in females (Bullen 1899; Matthews 1938; Omura 1950; Clarke et al.