Here we see a couple of shots of a new (for me at least) geographical species of orca – members of the mid-Atlantic group. I came across this group (three in total) whilst on a whale watch trip off Sao Miguel Island in the Azores last month. Although I’ve seen many, many orca before, seeing a totally new group from those in British Columbia and Alaska was an exciting change. Not very much is know about these orca, but of course marine biologists are forever trying to find out as much as they can and one had joined us on our boat for this trip and he informed me that April is the best time for seeing orca in that particular area, which is thought to be their transition time from mid to north Atlantic. That said, it is also not known if an offshore group live mid-Atlantic year round, away from land and out of range of whale watch and research vessels. I was also told that orca seen in that area in previous years have gone on to be seen as far north as Norway later in the year, which is quite a distance. Some other interesting facts I gleaned about this type is that unlike the north Pacific groups, they do not necessarily have a single food source – they have been known to eat small marine mammals, turtles, rays and fish and have even been seen taking tuna of fishing lines!
from stevewphotography
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