Blubber
Encyclopedia
Blubber is a thick layer of vascular
ized adipose tissue
found under the skin of all cetacea
ns, pinniped
s and sirenia
ns.
Lipid
-rich, collagen
fiber–laced blubber comprises the hypodermis
and covers the whole body, except for parts of the appendages, strongly attached to the musculature and skeleton by highly organized, fan-shaped networks of tendon
s and ligament
s. It can comprise up to 50 % of the body mass of some marine mammal
s during some points in their lives, and can range from two inches (5 cm) thick in dolphins and smaller whales, to more than 12 inches (30 cm) thick in some bigger whales, such as right
and bowhead whale
s. However, this is not indicative of larger whales' ability to retain heat better, as the thickness of a whale's blubber does not significantly affect heat loss. More indicative of a whale's ability to retain heat is the water and lipid concentration in blubber, as water reduces heat-retaining capacities, and lipid increases them.
s. It is particularly important for species that feed and breed in different parts of the ocean. During these periods, the animals metabolize
a fat. Blubber may save energy for marine mammals such as dolphins, in that it adds buoyancy to a dolphin while swimming.
Blubber differs from other forms of adipose tissue
in its extra thickness, which allows it to serve as an efficient thermal insulator
, making blubber essential for thermoregulation
. Blubber is more vascularized — rich in blood vessel
s — than other adipose tissue.
Blubber has advantages over fur (as in sea otter
s) in the respect that although fur can retain heat by holding pockets of air, the air pockets will be expelled under pressure (while diving). Blubber, however, does not compress under pressure. It is effective enough that some whales can dwell in temperatures as low as 40 °F (4.4 °C). While diving in cold water, blood vessels covering the blubber constrict and decrease blood flow, thus increasing blubber's efficiency as an insulator.
Blubber aids buoyancy
, and streamlines the body because the organized, complex collagenous network supports the noncircular cross sections characteristic of cetaceans.
Research into the thermal conductivity
of the common bottlenose dolphin
's blubber reveals its thickness and lipid content vary greatly amongst individuals and across life history categories. However, blubber from emaciated dolphins is a poorer insulator than that from nonpregnant adults, which in turn have a higher heat conductivity than blubber from pregnant females and adolescents.
(or mattak as it in written in Greenlandic) (the Inuit
/Eskimo
word for blubber) formed an important part of the traditional diets of the Inuit and other northernly peoples because of its high energy value. Seal blubber has large amounts of vitamin E
, selenium
, and other antioxidant
s, which may reduce the effect of the free radicals
formed within the body's cells. Damage caused to cells by free radicals are a theorized contributor to some diseases. Whale blubber, which tastes like arrowroot
biscuits, has similar properties. The positive effects of consuming blubber can be seen in Greenland
; in Uummannaq
for example, a hunting district with 3,000 residents, no deaths due to cardiovascular disease
s occurred in the 1970s. However, emigrants to Denmark
have contracted the same diseases as the rest of the population. The average 70-year-old Inuit with a traditional diet of whale and seal has arteries as elastic as those of a 20-year-old Danish resident.
Whaling
was largely to collect blubber. This was rendered into oil
in try pot
s, or later, in vats on factory ship
s. The oil could be then used in the manufacture of soap, leather, and cosmetics. Whale oil was used in candles as wax, and in oil lamp
s as fuel.
Blue whale
s can yield blubber harvests of up to 50 tons.
. Without the vitamin D, for example, the Inuit and other natives of the Arctic would likely suffer from rickets
. There is evidence blubber and other fats in the arctic diet also provide the calories needed to replace the lack of carbohydrates found in the diets of cultures in the rest of the world.
s, carcinogens that damage human nervous, immune and reproductive systems. The source of PCB concentrations is unknown. Since toothed whales are high on the food chain
, they likely consume large amounts of industrial pollutants (bioaccumulation
). Even baleen whale
s, by merit of the huge amount of food they consume, are bound to have toxic chemicals stored in their bodies. There are high levels of mercury
in the blubber of seals of the Canadian arctic
.
Vascular
Vascular in zoology and medicine means "related to blood vessels", which are part of the circulatory system. An organ or tissue that is vascularized is heavily endowed with blood vessels and thus richly supplied with blood....
ized adipose tissue
Adipose tissue
In histology, adipose tissue or body fat or fat depot or just fat is loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes. It is technically composed of roughly only 80% fat; fat in its solitary state exists in the liver and muscles. Adipose tissue is derived from lipoblasts...
found under the skin of all cetacea
Cetacea
The order Cetacea includes the marine mammals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Cetus is Latin and is used in biological names to mean "whale"; its original meaning, "large sea animal", was more general. It comes from Ancient Greek , meaning "whale" or "any huge fish or sea...
ns, pinniped
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
s and sirenia
Sirenia
Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. Four species are living, in two families and genera. These are the dugong and manatees...
ns.
Description
Lipid
Lipids constitute a broad group of naturally occurring molecules that include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins , monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, phospholipids, and others...
-rich, collagen
Collagen
Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins found in animals, especially in the flesh and connective tissues of mammals. It is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content...
fiber–laced blubber comprises the hypodermis
Subcutaneous tissue
The hypodermis, also called the hypoderm, subcutaneous tissue, or superficial fascia is the lowermost layer of the integumentary system in vertebrates. Types of cells that are found in the hypodermis are fibroblasts, adipose cells, and macrophages...
and covers the whole body, except for parts of the appendages, strongly attached to the musculature and skeleton by highly organized, fan-shaped networks of tendon
Tendon
A tendon is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension. Tendons are similar to ligaments and fasciae as they are all made of collagen except that ligaments join one bone to another bone, and fasciae connect muscles to other...
s and ligament
Ligament
In anatomy, the term ligament is used to denote any of three types of structures. Most commonly, it refers to fibrous tissue that connects bones to other bones and is also known as articular ligament, articular larua, fibrous ligament, or true ligament.Ligament can also refer to:* Peritoneal...
s. It can comprise up to 50 % of the body mass of some marine mammal
Marine mammal
Marine mammals, which include seals, whales, dolphins, and walruses, form a diverse group of 128 species that rely on the ocean for their existence. They do not represent a distinct biological grouping, but rather are unified by their reliance on the marine environment for feeding. The level of...
s during some points in their lives, and can range from two inches (5 cm) thick in dolphins and smaller whales, to more than 12 inches (30 cm) thick in some bigger whales, such as right
Right whale
Right whales are three species of large baleen whales consisting of two genera in the family Balaenidae of order Cetacea. Their bodies are very dark gray or black and rotund....
and bowhead whale
Bowhead Whale
The bowhead whale is a baleen whale of the right whale family Balaenidae in suborder Mysticeti. A stocky dark-colored whale without a dorsal fin, it can grow to in length. This thick-bodied species can weigh to , second only to the blue whale, although the bowhead's maximum length is less than...
s. However, this is not indicative of larger whales' ability to retain heat better, as the thickness of a whale's blubber does not significantly affect heat loss. More indicative of a whale's ability to retain heat is the water and lipid concentration in blubber, as water reduces heat-retaining capacities, and lipid increases them.
Function
Blubber is the primary storage location of fat on some mammalMammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s. It is particularly important for species that feed and breed in different parts of the ocean. During these periods, the animals metabolize
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
a fat. Blubber may save energy for marine mammals such as dolphins, in that it adds buoyancy to a dolphin while swimming.
Blubber differs from other forms of adipose tissue
Adipose tissue
In histology, adipose tissue or body fat or fat depot or just fat is loose connective tissue composed of adipocytes. It is technically composed of roughly only 80% fat; fat in its solitary state exists in the liver and muscles. Adipose tissue is derived from lipoblasts...
in its extra thickness, which allows it to serve as an efficient thermal insulator
Thermal insulation
Thermal insulation is the reduction of the effects of the various processes of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature...
, making blubber essential for thermoregulation
Thermoregulation
Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different...
. Blubber is more vascularized — rich in blood vessel
Blood vessel
The blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transports blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart; the capillaries, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and...
s — than other adipose tissue.
Blubber has advantages over fur (as in sea otter
Sea Otter
The sea otter is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals...
s) in the respect that although fur can retain heat by holding pockets of air, the air pockets will be expelled under pressure (while diving). Blubber, however, does not compress under pressure. It is effective enough that some whales can dwell in temperatures as low as 40 °F (4.4 °C). While diving in cold water, blood vessels covering the blubber constrict and decrease blood flow, thus increasing blubber's efficiency as an insulator.
Blubber aids buoyancy
Buoyancy
In physics, buoyancy is a force exerted by a fluid that opposes an object's weight. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus a column of fluid, or an object submerged in the fluid, experiences greater pressure at the bottom of the...
, and streamlines the body because the organized, complex collagenous network supports the noncircular cross sections characteristic of cetaceans.
Research into the thermal conductivity
Thermal conductivity
In physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
of the common bottlenose dolphin
Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the common bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin , instead of one...
's blubber reveals its thickness and lipid content vary greatly amongst individuals and across life history categories. However, blubber from emaciated dolphins is a poorer insulator than that from nonpregnant adults, which in turn have a higher heat conductivity than blubber from pregnant females and adolescents.
Uses
MuktukMuktuk
Muktuk is the English word for the traditional, pre-agrarian, Inuit/Eskimo and Chukchi meal of frozen whale skin and blubber...
(or mattak as it in written in Greenlandic) (the Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
/Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
word for blubber) formed an important part of the traditional diets of the Inuit and other northernly peoples because of its high energy value. Seal blubber has large amounts of vitamin E
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is used to refer to a group of fat-soluble compounds that include both tocopherols and tocotrienols. There are many different forms of vitamin E, of which γ-tocopherol is the most common in the North American diet. γ-Tocopherol can be found in corn oil, soybean oil, margarine and dressings...
, selenium
Selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...
, and other antioxidant
Antioxidant
An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons or hydrogen from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions. When...
s, which may reduce the effect of the free radicals
Free-radical theory
The free-radical theory of aging states that organisms age because cells accumulate free radical damage over time. A free radical is any atom or molecule that has a single unpaired electron in an outer shell. While a few free radicals such as melanin are not chemically reactive, most...
formed within the body's cells. Damage caused to cells by free radicals are a theorized contributor to some diseases. Whale blubber, which tastes like arrowroot
Arrowroot
Arrowroot, or obedience plant , Bermuda arrowroot, araru, ararao, is a large perennial herb found in rainforest habitats...
biscuits, has similar properties. The positive effects of consuming blubber can be seen in Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
; in Uummannaq
Uummannaq
Uummannaq is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality, in northwestern Greenland. With 1,299 inhabitants as of 2010, it is the eleventh-largest town in Greenland, and is home to the country's most northerly ferry terminal...
for example, a hunting district with 3,000 residents, no deaths due to cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
s occurred in the 1970s. However, emigrants to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
have contracted the same diseases as the rest of the population. The average 70-year-old Inuit with a traditional diet of whale and seal has arteries as elastic as those of a 20-year-old Danish resident.
Whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
was largely to collect blubber. This was rendered into oil
Whale oil
Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...
in try pot
Try pot
A try pot is a large pot used to remove and render the oil from blubber obtained from cetaceans, pinnipeds and also to extract oil from penguins. Once a whale had been caught and killed, the process of removing the blubber from the whale began...
s, or later, in vats on factory ship
Factory ship
A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish...
s. The oil could be then used in the manufacture of soap, leather, and cosmetics. Whale oil was used in candles as wax, and in oil lamp
Oil lamp
An oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and is continued to this day....
s as fuel.
Blue whale
Blue Whale
The blue whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales . At in length and or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed....
s can yield blubber harvests of up to 50 tons.
Health
Blubber from whales and seals contains omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin DVitamin D
Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids. In humans, vitamin D is unique both because it functions as a prohormone and because the body can synthesize it when sun exposure is adequate ....
. Without the vitamin D, for example, the Inuit and other natives of the Arctic would likely suffer from rickets
Rickets
Rickets is a softening of bones in children due to deficiency or impaired metabolism of vitamin D, magnesium , phosphorus or calcium, potentially leading to fractures and deformity. Rickets is among the most frequent childhood diseases in many developing countries...
. There is evidence blubber and other fats in the arctic diet also provide the calories needed to replace the lack of carbohydrates found in the diets of cultures in the rest of the world.
Toxicity
Blubber contains naturally-occurring PCBPolychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...
s, carcinogens that damage human nervous, immune and reproductive systems. The source of PCB concentrations is unknown. Since toothed whales are high on the food chain
Food chain
A food web depicts feeding connections in an ecological community. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one of two categories called trophic levels: 1) the autotrophs, and 2) the heterotrophs...
, they likely consume large amounts of industrial pollutants (bioaccumulation
Biomagnification
Biomagnification, also known as bioamplification or biological magnification, is the increase in concentration of a substance that occurs in a food chain as a consequence of:* Persistence...
). Even baleen whale
Baleen whale
The Baleen whales, also called whalebone whales or great whales, form the Mysticeti, one of two suborders of the Cetacea . Baleen whales are characterized by having baleen plates for filtering food from water, rather than having teeth. This distinguishes them from the other suborder of cetaceans,...
s, by merit of the huge amount of food they consume, are bound to have toxic chemicals stored in their bodies. There are high levels of mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
in the blubber of seals of the Canadian arctic
Northern Canada
Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...
.