Move over, “baby whale.” A killer whale has entered the native ocean wildlife chat.
An orca was just lately noticed by a fisherman off Cape Cod, which is definitely not a typical sighting within the northwest Atlantic Ocean.
“You don’t see this every day, folks,” Jerry Leeman, a fisherman, stated whereas recording a video of the large killer whale about 40 miles east of Nantucket. “At least not in New England.”
Leeman, 40, informed the Herald he has now seen six killer whales over the past 18 years on the water.
The fisherman with Blue Harvest Fisheries was haddock fishing over the weekend when he noticed the orca’s recognizable dorsal fin. He rapidly grabbed his cellphone and took the video of the killer whale “going for a free meal.”
“It was pretty cool to see,” Leeman stated. “Being a fisherman for 21 years, I grew up knowing that they’re the apex predators. You don’t get higher on the food chain than that.”
The orca was later recognized as “Old Thom” by Massachusetts-based shark professional John Chisholm, who’s with the New England Aquarium.
Old Thom has been noticed within the area in previous years, and has a novel notch in his dorsal fin.
“He’s known to travel the Northwest Atlantic,” Chisholm stated. “I’m not a whale professional, however I understand how to establish people from markings and scars.
“His dorsal fin has a distinct notch in it, and you can see that notch here to identify it,” he added.
While recognizing an orca off the Cape is just not frequent, it’s “not unheard of,” Chisholm stated.
“They’re migrating and looking for food like all animals do to survive,” he added. “Just like great white sharks, they move for food or for mating.”
Killer whales are most often noticed within the Pacific Northwest, alongside Norway’s coast, and within the Southern Ocean. Orcas have been recognized to assault and eat nice white sharks in some elements of the world.
Great white sharks descend upon the Cape all through the summer season. There haven’t been any experiences of orcas and sharks interacting round right here.
“We haven’t seen any interactions between orcas and great whites here,” Chisholm stated. “When orcas have showed up, it hasn’t changed the white sharks’ behavior at all. They’re obviously not perceived by white sharks as a threat for now.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”