KILLER WHALE

Transient orcas travel and hunt in small groups of 2-6 individuals. They can be recognized by uniform closed gray saddle patches that are often heavily scarred by gray whales or other prey items. They move north and south along the coast from Southeast Alaska and British Columbia as far south as Southern California.

March through May is the peak season months for Bigg’s Killer Whales in Monterey Bay with September through November being our secondary season, they may be encountered at any time of the year. This ecotype of killer whales uses short range communication to not alert their prey species, marine mammals.

This specific ecotype of killer whale is rare in Monterey. We often have a multi year gap between sighting.

Offshores orcas inhabits the water well beyond the coast. Far less is known about offshore orcas, but recent observations show that sharks are an important part of their diet as fish-eaters. Offshores tend to be smaller than Transient killer whales and group in pods of between 60 – 100 individuals. This ecotype uses long range communication to spot their prey.

There are two subgroups. Northern residents range from Vancouver Island north to SE Alaska while Southern residents occupy greater Puget Sound. This specific subtype of killer whale is rare in Monterey. We often have a multi year gap between sighting. They can be recognized by varying pigment levels in their saddle patch and an open saddle patch.

There are three pods for Southern Resident killer whales, called the J, K, and L pods for a total number of 74 individuals. They are the only residents orcas we can see in Monterey. These families of killer whales are fish eaters and feed primarily on endangered Chinook Salmon, as dam creation took hold, their food source (chinook salmon) was prevented from going into the ocean leading to the resident numbers to decrease. This ecotype uses long range echolocation to identify the species of fish by the swim bladder.