How did whales get its name?

Answer 1

It has a substance in its head called spermaceti which is milky white and used to be mistaken for sperm. It had various commercial uses that made it quite valuable. It's thought to be associated with the animal's hearing, by helping its ears detect sound when under the water.
"The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in its head . " ~ Wikipedia
I believe it is named after the spermaceti that can be extracted from the whale's head. It is a white, milky substance that can easily be (and has been) mistaken for the whale's seman.

You're right: it is. It forms a fatty structure that may be connected with the animal's hearing underwater.

Obviously as mammals the male sperm whales also make reproductive sperm - but not in their heads as the old-time whale-hunters mistakenly thought!

Answer 2

*The substance is not of course the whale's semen; it was mistaken for such by early whalers. Spermaceti is found in the spermaceti organ or case in front of and above the skull of the whale and also in the so-called junk which is right at the front of the whale's head just above the upper jaw. The case consists of a soft white substance saturated with spermaceti. The junk is a more solid substance.

The precise function of spermaceti and the organs it fills is not known yet, but the role of spermaceti as a sexual selector is currently the most in vogue.

Spermaceti was much sought after by 18th, 19th and 20th century whalers. The substance found a variety of commercial applications, such as watch oil, automatic Transmission Fluid, lubricant for delicate high altitude instruments, cosmetics, additives in motor oils, glycerine, rust-proofing compounds, detergent, chemical fibers, vitamins and 70 or more pharmaceutical compounds.

The Best things in Life, Aren't things.

Answer 3

Because of their fierce reputation, killer whales are sometimes called ballena asesina ("assassin whale") by the Spanish. They were referred to as "whale killers" by sailors who witnessed their attacks on larger cetaceans, an over time this name was changed to "killer whales". They are called this not because they harm humans but because they kill other whales.

Answer 4

Sperm whales get their name from the oily fat in their heads called SPERMACETI.

Answer 5

The sperm whale is only one species of whale, named for the substance spermacetae found in the oil, nothing to do with sperm cells.

Answer 6

they produce large amounts of sperm when they are killed

Answer 7

cause the city whales was the first to discover them

Answer 8

Their head contains a substance called spermaceti. The whales may regulate buoyancy with spermaceti but that is only a theory.

Answer 9

They not only have a white milk like liquid in their head but it’s said to have the consistency and look as cum/sperm XXXXDDDDDD

its been tested by belle delphine.

Answer 10

because there blue and there a big whale