1) The sperm whale (
Physeter macrocephalus L.) is found exclusively on the Pacific side of the islands of Japan and its whaling has been carried on chiefly in the northern part of the empire with the following main shore stations: --Ayukawa, Miyagi Prefecture; Kamaisi, Iwate Prefecture; Akkesi, Hokkaido; Syana, Iturup Is.
2) The so-called “harems” of the sperm whale are mostly observed migrating in warm waters, but not so rarely even in such cold waters, where the surface water temperatures are as low as 3°-10°C. In respective years of 1930 and 1932 the harem of the whale in question was found in the adjacent waters of Hokkaidô from late autumn to winter, the surface water temperature being then higher than that of the average year.
3) Groups of the sperm whale consisting of merely males of larger size, viz., over 12.1m in length appear from May (or June) to September (or August) in the seas arround Iturup Strait and Urup Suidô. Such group have been observed by whalers to swim southwards following the course of the Tisima Cold Current. Some of them thus enter the Okhotsk Sea through the above-mentioned passages.
4) Judging from the data of 112 foetuses reported from various shore stations, the pairing is mostly confined to a period from June to July, a calf being brought forth at a length of 4.8-6.1m after the pregnancy of 10-12 months. But the minority appears to have another period of coitus around January.
5) Though the female measures 10.6m long and the male 14.5m long on the average, a female 9.1m long was sometimes was found pregnant and a male 15.2m long as a leader of a harem.
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