48 
ACTIONS OF 
But one of the most curious and surprising of the 
actions of the sperm whale, is that of leaping completely 
out of the water, or of “ breaching,” as it is called by 
whalers (see cut, p. 33, fig. 2). The way in which he 
performs this extraordinary motion, appears to be by 
descending to a certain depth below the surface, and then 
making some powerful strokes with his tail, which are 
frequently and rapidly repeated, and thus convey a great 
degree of velocity to his body before it reaches the sur- 
face, when he darts completely out. When just emerged 
and at its greatest elevation, his body forms with the 
surface of the water an angle of about 45 degrees, the 
flukes lying parallel with the surface ; in falling, the 
animal rolls his body slightly, so that he always falls 
on his side: he seldom breaches more than twice or 
thrice at a time, or in quick succession. The breach 
of a whale may be seen from the mast-head on a clear 
day at the distance of six miles. 
It is probable that the sperm whale often resorts to 
this action of breaching for the purpose of ridding 
itself of various animals which infest its skin, such as 
large “ sucking fish,” and other animals which resemble 
small crabs. Of the former of these parasites, some 
fix themselves so closely to their convenient carrier, 
that they sometimes adhere to the skin of the whale 
for several hours after its death, and then suffer them- 
selves to be forced off by the hands of the whaler. It 
is not improbable also, that some of these actions may 
be resorted to in the whale endeavouring to avoid the 
assaults of the sword-fish, by which they are not un- 
