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The orca (Orcinus orca), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the only extant species in the genus Orcinus and is recognizable its black-and-white patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, they are found in diverse marine environments, from Arctic to Antarctic regions to tropical seas.
North Pacific. Research off the west coast of Canada and the United States in the 1970s and 1980s identified the following three types: Resident (fish-eating) orcas: The curved dorsal fins are typical of resident females. Resident: These are the most commonly sighted of the three populations in the coastal waters of the northeast Pacific.
Orcinus is a genus of Delphinidae, the family of carnivorous marine mammals known as dolphins. It includes the largest delphinid species, Orcinus orca, known as the orca or killer whale. Two extinct species are recognised, Orcinus paleorca and O. citoniensis, describing fossilised remains of the genus. [2]
Southern resident orcas. The research vessel Noctiluca of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in close proximity to an orca. The southern resident orcas, also known as the southern resident killer whales (SRKW), are the smallest of four communities of the exclusively fish-eating ecotype of orca in the northeast Pacific Ocean.
Northern resident orcas. Northern resident orcas, also known as northern resident killer whales (NRKW), are one of four separate, non-interbreeding communities of the exclusively fish-eating ecotype of orca in the northeast portion of the North Pacific Ocean. They live primarily off the coast of British Columbia (BC), Canada, and also travel to ...
Orca on occasion also hunt whales larger than themselves. [26] One common feeding method is herding, where a pod squeezes a school of fish into a bait ball. Individual members then take turns plowing through the ball, feeding on the stunned fish. Corralling is a method where dolphins chase fish into shallow water to catch them more easily.
The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also referred to as the sea leopard, [3] is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). Its only natural predator is the orca. [4] It feeds on a wide range of prey including cephalopods, other pinnipeds, krill, fish, and birds, particularly penguins.
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and porpoises. Dolphins and porpoises may be considered whales from a formal, cladistic perspective.