SPERM WHALE SQUID BATTLE T-SHIRT AND HOODIE

The mighty battle!

This design celebrates a clash between two of the ocean's most intriguing and astonishing creatures, the sperm whale and the giant squid. Sperm whales dive to astonishing depths - over a mile below the surface - to prey on their favorite food, the architeuthis, or giant squid. The squid themselves can measure up to sixty feet, with eyes the size of dinner plates, and had never been seen alive by humans until the beginning of the twenty-first century.

The sperm whale has lived on this diet for so long that it has a specially evolved to hunt and digest the squid. The characteristic bulbous forehead of the whale is thought to be - in part - a sonic weapon that the whales use to stun the squid when they attack, using the sudden release of air through passages inside the organ. In effect, the large soft tissue is an amplifier that the whale uses to increase the sound of a kind of attack sneeze.

The whales eat their prey whole, and can daily digest the soft tissue that makes up most of the squid. The squid, however, have a hard, sharp beak and claws that could injure the stomach and intestines of the whales. To prevent this, the whales have evolved to produce a substance that coats the hard parts, known as ambergris. This substance was highly sought after during the heyday of whaling because its musky scent was an expensive ingredient for ladies' perfumes.

This salty, fun, savage design is available on tees and hoodies.

Art by Tom Crestodina