The earth's surface area reaches 510 million square kilometers, and on this blue planet, trillions of creatures live together. Of these, 71% of the ocean is estimated to be 2.1 million species (210,000 known to humans and an estimated 2.1 million). Some of these creatures are as small as sesame seeds, and some grow into behemoths. Let's get to know the 5 giant marine creatures known to mankind:
5th Sperm Whale
Sperm whales, which like to live in groups
1. Morphological characteristics
Adult sperm whales are 8–20 m long and slightly longer males weighing 25–45 tonnes. When the baby sperm whale is born, it reaches a length of 4 meters and weighs about 500 kilograms.
Sperm whales look like giant tadpoles with heads that make up 1/4-1/3 of their bodies, and their brains are the largest of all animals in the world.
A sperm whale shaped like a tadpole
Interestingly, they have a nostril on each side of the front of the head, but only the left nostril is unobstructed, and the right nostril is naturally blocked. Therefore, when the sperm whale surfaces to breathe, it always tilts its body to the right, and the water mist column erupts at an angle of about 45 degrees to the left front.
2. Life habits
Sperm whales prefer to live in groups of 10-300 whales, and they migrate north and south every year to feed and nurture the next generation, so they are widely distributed in the oceans around the world. They swim very fast, reaching more than 30 kilometers per hour.
Sperm whales breathe in their lungs and are good divers, they can dive 2200 meters underwater, stay underwater for about 2 hours, and they can see a lot of beautiful scenery that humans can't see.
Sperm whales sleep on the surface of the sea, and sleep is very heavy, sleeping for up to several hours. If you sail the sea on a giant ship, if you're lucky, you'll encounter sleeping sperm whales on a brilliant night in the galaxy, floating on the surface of the sea like wood.
They mainly eat large squid, such as the king squid, but also octopus and large fish.
3. Sperm whale and ambergris
Ambergris, the secretion of sperm whales. After they hunt squid or octopus, the indigestible beak bone is wrapped in the secretion of the sperm whale, spit out or excreted, and a small part remains in the body, which is ambergris. Ambergris has an aromatic smell and is a valuable Chinese medicinal herb.
ambergris
Because of its commercial value, sperm whales have been hunted and are now listed as vulnerable species in IUCN.
Thankfully, ambergris has now been replaced with industrial compounds with the same aroma, thus protecting sperm whales.
4th King Squid
King Squid
1. Morphological characteristics
The great king squid known to mankind has a maximum body length of 20 meters and a weight of 1000 kg. The king squid looks similar to the squid we usually eat, but it is magnified many, many times, and will not be described too much here.
Schematic diagram of the king squid form
Although the squid we usually eat is more delicious, the king squid meat is very sour and has no commercial value at present.
2. Life habits
The king squid lives 200-400 meters underwater, mainly distributed next to the continental shelf and islands, distributed all over the world, and rarely found in tropical and high latitude seas. They mainly eat other species of squid, small fish and shrimp.
Of course, in the depths of the sea, whether there is a larger king squid living is not yet known, which needs to be discovered by scientists.
3. The story of the king squid and the sea monster
In ancient times, when science and technology were not yet developed, sailors and fishermen from all over the world spread the story of giant sea monsters. According to legend, sea monsters are particularly large, with many heads, they have long tentacles, and some can even overturn fishing boats.
The legend of the sea monster
However, after the 19th century, with the development of science and technology, this legend has become less and less frequent. It was not until November 20, 1861, that the French warship "Arriton" encountered a sea monster with a length of 6 meters and a 2 meters long tentacles on its way to sea. Then, in 1877, humans encountered the body of a king squid on a beach in Newfoundland.
In order to study these sea monsters, the Belgian scientist Hayfellmans collected and analyzed more than five hundred legends or records about sea monsters, and finally confirmed that the sea monsters in people's mouths were most likely the king squid.
3rd Bowhead Whale
1. Morphological characteristics
Adult bowhead whales are 21 meters long and weigh 190 tons, and the females are larger than the males. They live for up to 200 years, and the biggest feature is that the jaw is bowed, and the head accounts for about 1/3 of the body length. Their skulls are very large and thick and are used to break through the ice to breathe oxygen.
2. Life habits
Bowhead whales live mainly in the Arctic, because they are relatively cold, so they have a fat layer of 43-50 cm used to protect them from the cold. They also occur in bays, straits and estuaries in the summer.
Bowhead whales are mostly alone, sometimes in small groups of six, and they can dive up to 200 meters underwater and stay for 40 minutes.
Like most cetaceans, they prey on krill and zooplankton.
3. History of the slaughter of bowhead whales
Whales have been killed since ancient times, mainly because of the huge commercial value of fat, meat, oil, bones and baleen in their bodies.
In the 20 years that began in 1611, 60 percent of the world's bowhead whales were hunted and killed, and coupled with oil and gas exploration, the number of bowhead whales also fell sharply from the previous 50,000.
Bowhead whale killed
Later, with the implementation of the whaling order, the bowhead whale was saved from the fate of being slaughtered. At present, the global population of bowhead whales is about 7000-8000.
2nd minke whale
1. Morphological characteristics
Fin whales, with an adult body length of 25 meters and a weight of 110 tons, are the second largest whale in the ocean. Their bodies are slender, spindle-shaped, and have 2 jet holes. The most obvious feature of the fin whale is that it has a grayish-white herringbone pattern at the back of the head, a white part of the lower lip, mouth and baleen on the right, and a gray color on the left.
2. History of the fin whale massacre
Captured fin whales
In general, fin whales are mainly distributed near the sea at 30° north latitude. After mastering this feature, in the 19th century, humans began a crazy whale slaughter. Like bowhead whales, fin whales have been hunted and are now listed as endangered.
Today, despite some policies, an unknown number of fin whales are hunted and killed each year.
1st Place Blue Whale
1. Morphological characteristics
When it comes to the largest animal on earth, we all know that it is the blue whale, which can reach a maximum length of 33 meters and weigh 181 tons.
That's the size of 25 African elephants, 2,000-3,000 people. Because of its pale blue or rat-gray body, it was named blue whale.
Blue whales like to live at the confluence of warm and icy waters, where they can hunt for a large number of plankton and krill, according to statistics, blue whales can devour 2 million krill at a time, eating 4-8 tons of food a day.
They spray water jets in order to remove exhaust gases such as carbon dioxide from the body, and the spray height can reach 10 meters.
The water column forms a rainbow
2. Causes of blue whale endangerment
Blue whales, like other whales, cannot escape the fate of being killed, and climate change, human oil and gas exploration, all of which do not affect the survival of blue whales.
epilogue
As behemoths in the ocean, they are almost invincible except for humans. Although most of these behemoths have been hunted by humans, as humans pay more and more attention to the protection of the earth, it is believed that these magical species can continue to survive and reproduce on this beautiful planet.