Talk:Spermaceti

message: I felt that spermaceti merited an article in its own right, particularly since there was a 1911 EB article. Perhaps there is some text from the Sperm Whale article that would better belong in this article now? --BillC 00:09, 7 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merits an article 

message: Note: I undid an edit by  207.177.239.126 (talk) because the edit removed cited material from a verifiable source while the removal of the edit was based on un-cited information the editor says is from an email sent by a PR person at NASA.  While the editor may, or may not, be correct, the edit does not follow the English Wikipedia's policy of verifiability.  The content removed is not only verifiable, it is published in a book that is the 2009 winner of BBC's Samual Johson Prize, one of the UK's most prestigious literary awards that includes a $32,000 prize to the winner. (While the size of the prize is irrelevant, my point is, the cited reference more than fulfills the Wikipedia guidelines for verifiability and, thus, should not be removed until someone can link to a similarly reputable published source.)
--RexHammock 02:31, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Undid an edit 

message: Hi,
It looks like the beginning of this article goes into depth while talking about the biological function and buoyancy, but in the section on biological function it is much less detailed and describes a completely different function as being the primary purpose (sonar)...this might be worth editing. I realize, though, that this is more of an opinion than a factual error. thanks.--75.18.185.180 (talk) 01:49, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  inconcistency in biological function  

message: "Originally mistaken for the whale's sperm (due to the name), spermaceti is created in the spermaceti organ inside the whale's head."
That doesn't make sense. Wasn't it named spermaceti because people thought it was sperm? If not, why did they name it spermaceti in the first place?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.139.81.0 (talk) 14:50, 23 March 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Doesn't make sense 

message: thanks for posting the movie. I've been reading, "Log Book for Grace" by Robert Cushman Murphy and now have an idea of what the rendering process was like.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.138.88.181 (talk) 05:33, 24 October 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  thanks 

message: The assumptive or putative purpose is outlined but then another order of poorly described complexity is also attributed;
that the spermaceti, so far a static substance, jumps to the complex articulations of acoustic interferometry, ie "creating internal clicks etc"  to distance locate the prey in concert with respiratory sounds. I'm obviously unclear how a puddle of waxy suspension can cause, transmit and analyse sounds dimensionally as the wording is unclear and there are no references for this unclear statement.
How does spermaceti make sounds loud enough to carry if it is a closed system with no moving parts?
How does it interact with respiratory created sounds?
Why is there no reference to explain this odd shift?
It's clear either the descriptions are flawed or information is missing. 24.69.180.83 (talk) 22:35, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Inconsistent and unreferenced biological functions 

message: "The most likely [to who?] primary function of the spermaceti organ is to add [add? by what mechanisms?] internal echo or resonator clicks to the sonar echo location clicks emitted by the respiratory organs"
so the unmoving organ is CREATING clicks by some magic?
Or is this to say that it is a resonant cavity whose resonations' timing is compared to the timing of the reception of the reflected click? that would make some sense, still requiring more explanation but at least physically possible. 24.69.180.83 (talk) 22:48, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unclear unreferenced underexplained 

message: A quick search didn't reveal what I was looking for other than a mention that sperm whales wax reserve evolved to be lower over time.  But it'd be interesting to see if biologists noticed links between the spermaceti organ and other functions in animals cetaceans evolved from like ungulates.  For instance, the keratin horns are held by connective tissue and also have a kind of wax.  —PaleoNeonate – 15:01, 28 August 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Evolution