Cachalot (fictional planet)

Cachalot is a fictional planet created by Alan Dean Foster for his Humanx Commonwealth universe. The world is almost entirely covered by ocean with small ice caps and a few artificial floating islands created by humans. The dominant non-native races are intelligence-enhanced Cetacea (includes whales, dolphins, orcas and porpoises) that were brought to the planet from Terra in 2300 A.D. The name of the planet derives from the Portuguese word cachalote, a common term for head. This word was applied to the sperm whale, for its large head, when the mammals were actively hunted in Earth’s oceans.

The novel Cachalot (1980) introduced the planet to the Humanx Commonwealth universe.