In the Lagoon

In Kealakekua Bay Captain Cook's blood was spilled. The bay has blossomed with sea life, including a pod of Spinner Dolphins. There is also a place in Queensland where dolphins swim so close to shore that you can reach out and feed them. The focus of my research has been an animal I've not been able to take a good picture of, the Sperm Whale.

Unlike most great whales, which feed on shrimp and krill, the Sperm Whale enjoys calamari. His favourite dish is that most tenacious of sea beasts, the giant squid. With their nest of tentacles and parrotlike beak, they are not easy prey. The giant squid lurk in the perpetual night of the ocean bottom.

The Sperm Whale can dive to 3000 meters, deeper than a nuclear submarine. To locate a discrete target in total darkness, the whale has an enormous forehead containing an oil reservoir. This allows the whale to send out low frequency sound signals to better penetrate the ocean. Oil in the reservoir has a lower speed of sound than the surrounding water. Sound signals are thereby focused to produce a tight beam.

Sperm Whale choose to hunt the most difficult prey of all. They have been found with scars and sucker marks from titanic battles with squid. They have also fought the most dangerous predator of all. Whalers hunted the Sperm Whale for that enormous reservoir of oil. Then there was Captain Ahab. Despite the enmity of humans and squid, Sperm Whales persist in their hunt.