The title of the original article [1] is a lot more clear:

    Buoyancy regulation through modulation of onboard gas volume by resting sperm whales

If you've done any scuba diving (or swimming) you're familiar with this method of buoyancy control. And most fish accomplish on actively transporting gas between an internal bladder and their blood.

The difference is that whales have no way to refill their lungs while submerged, which is why their dives start deep and slowly drift up: as long as they are drifting upward the volume in their lungs is expanding in response to decreasing pressure. So the bubbles are essentially a way of pumping the breaks, which is apparently something they can do in their sleep (if they are in fact sleeping).

Is anyone else slightly annoyed by the cutesy title? Of course I recognize that the meme economy runs on this stuff, so maybe it's just nerds like me.

[1]: https://dmscdn.vuelio.co.uk/publicitem/61eae467-9527-4922-b9...

If these are rainbow bubbles, that conclusively proves the whales had ADHD therapy sessions.

What happens if they have an attack of flatulence?

But seriously, this must happen sometimes!

same