1. Description category description
Latin name: Physeter macrocephalus
Common Name: Cachalote (PT) / Sperm Whale (EN) / Cachelot (FR)
Photo:
Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable
CITES status: NO
The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a marine
mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale
(odontocete) having the largest brain of any animal. The
name comes from the milky-white waxy substance,
spermaceti, found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is
the only living member of genus Physeter. The now outdated
synonym Physeter catodon refers to the same species. It is
one of three extant species in the sperm whale super family,
Short species description: along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale.
A mature male can grow to 20.5 meters (67 ft) long. It is the
largest living toothed animal. For large males, the head can
represent up to one-third of the animal's length. It has a
cosmopolitan distribution across the oceans. The species
feeds primarily on squid but to some extent on fish, diving as
deep as 3 kilometers (9,800 ft), which makes it the deepest
diving mammal.
The sperm whale has a large geographic range (Rice 1989).
It can be seen in nearly all marine regions, from the equator
to high latitudes, but is generally found in continental slope
Geographic Range:
or deeper water. The distribution extends to many enclosed
or partially-enclosed seas, such as the Mediterranean Sea,
Sea of Okhotsk, Gulf of California, and Gulf of Mexico.

2. Range Map: http://mapservices.iucnredlist.org/IUCN/mapper/index.html?
ID_NO=41755
The greatest threat to sperm whales, extensive commercial
whaling, has ceased. However, a number of other threats of
various dimensions remain.
Entanglement in fishing gear, particularly gillnets, has been a
particular problem in the Mediterranean Sea, but sperm
whales die from entanglement in nets and lines in many
other areas and in a variety of fisheries as well.
Sperm whales sometimes take fish off fishing gear (most
often demersal long-line gear), an activity known as
“depredation.” Depredation of long-line catches appears to
Major Threat(s):
be a recent and increasing phenomenon, and now occurs in
many regions (e.g., South East Alaska, Chile, South Georgia
and several other southern ocean island areas, North
Atlantic). This interaction has resulted in a few reported
entanglements and deaths, and has incurred hostility from
some, including shooting of whales.
Sperm whales face other threats at a more regional level.
These include collisions with ships, for instance off the
Canary Islands and in the Mediterranean, and ingestion of
marine debris in the Mediterranean.
Management plans need both development and
implementation. The International Whaling Commission
manages sperm whale populations under the International
Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, and Schedule of
the Convention lists sperm whale seasons, sperm whale size
limits and sperm whale catch limits (0 at present), as well as
sanctuaries for all species in the Indian and Southern Oceans.
Conservation Actions: However, no scheme for managing sperm whale populations
is in place. Moreover, many range states are not members of
the International Whaling Commission.
Regional subpopulations of sperm whales exist, and there
has been an apparent lack of recovery in some areas or even
continued decline. Therefore, further assessments of the
status of sperm whales should be conducted at the
subpopulation level.
IUCN base link: http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/41755/0
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/41755/0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_whale
Sources: http://www.horta.uac.pt/projectos/MSubmerso/old/200006/C
achalotes.htm