SOUTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS GRACE MONTEREY BAY'S DEPTHS.
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.
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.
Diet
Families Specialize On What They Eat Fish Eaters: Salmon (primarily Chinook but also Chum and Coho Salmon), Lingcod, Big stake
Population Status | Monterey
Federally Endangered
Legal Protection
Marine Mammal Protection Act, National Marine Protected Area Act, Endangered Species Act
Threats
Human Related Loss (Habitat Loss, Ocean Noise, Hunting, Food Source Loss, Climate Change, Disturbance, Entanglement, Harassment, Oil Spills, Pollution, Boat Strikes, Collisions)
Size
22ft (Unisex)
Weight
15,000 lb (Unisex)
BEHAVIORS
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Feeding
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Spy Hop
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Breaching
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Tail-Lobbing