It is fascinating that you bring this up, especially following the "Omnium" etymology. Whales effectively have an "omnium" of sound—a vast, all-encompassing range of frequencies that they use to map their world and maintain social structures.
You're absolutely right: whale communication is considered one of the most sophisticated non-human systems on Earth.
Whales don’t just make noise; they have regional dialects.
* Sperm Whales: They use patterns of clicks called "codas." Researchers have found that different clans of sperm whales use distinct codas, essentially identifying themselves as members of a specific "culture."
* Humpbacks: These are the famous "composers." All males in a specific population will sing the same song, but that song evolves over the season. If a "hit" song starts in a population off the coast of Australia, it can ripple across the ocean to other groups—a literal "whale-pop" chart-topper.
Recent research (particularly the CETI Project) suggests that sperm whales may use specific click patterns as individual names. When one whale meets another, they exchange these unique codas, similar to humans introducing themselves.
3. Long-Distance "Internet"
Before the oceans became noisy with human shipping, large baleen whales (like Blue and Fin whales) could potentially communicate across thousands of miles.
* They use low-frequency sounds that travel efficiently through the "SOFAR channel" (Deep Sound Channel), an underwater layer where the speed of sound is at its minimum, allowing it to travel across entire ocean basins without losing much energy.
4. Visualizing with Sound
Whales don't just "talk"; they see with sound. Their echolocation is so precise it functions as a high-definition acoustic image.
* Scientists speculate that when a whale sends an echolocation click and receives an echo back from a fish, it might be able to "rebroadcast" that same echo to another whale—essentially sending a picture of the fish to its pod members.
A Quick Correction (The "Grammar" Check)
You've touched on a topic that bridges biology and linguistics! Just a tiny "peer-to-peer" note on the phrasing: you likely meant "The communicative ability of the whale is thought to be highly developed." (Changing "though" to "thought").
Would you like me to look into the latest updates from the CETI project (the researchers trying to use AI to decode whale talk), or would you prefer to hear about the "songs" of the Humpback?