Behemoths of the Ocean 



by comparison, a dainty little being, seldom more 

 than thirty or thirty-five feet long. 



A Sperm has one spout-hole, instead of two ; 

 and in colour he is black above, grey below. 



In his outlines a marked difference is visible. 

 Looked upon sideways, the form of the huge 

 square head is precisely like the trunk of an 

 immense forest tree, cut off short ; and the 

 " blow-hole" is situated close to the end or 

 front of this " truncated " head. The latter is 

 really a reservoir, containing a large supply of 

 valuable spermaceti oil, for the sake of which 

 the creature is killed by man. 



Instead of a mouth full of hair -fringed 

 " baleen," these whales have proper teeth, better 

 suited, one would think, to their size. Their 

 food too is of a far more substantial kind. 



It was told in an earlier chapter how Sperm 

 Whales live mainly on cuttlefishes ; and how 

 sometimes, in midnight combat, they fight and 

 conquer even the mightiest of those loathsome 

 monsters of the deep. 



Sperms are found through wide ranges of the 

 ocean, in most tropical waters, as far north and 

 as far south as 60 in each direction from the 

 equator. 



But whereas Right Whales of colder seas prefer 

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