California Blackfish

An amazing sighting up in Monterey, California this week! The CA216’s, “Jagged’s,” group have been spotted a lot in the past year as they traverse the California coast. They are known for their newest family member CA216C1, this white baby orca. First spotted in Monterey in the summer of 2019, and then a few months later in Newport, CA in September. We are not sure what kind of color abnormality this little white orca displays, but it is eerily similar to another white orca calf spotted up in the PNW. Checkout the comparison between these two! CA216C1 in the first 3 pics, T046B1B in the second two. Thanks to for this awesome report!



@ Monterey, California

Thinking back to this encounter with a rarely seen group of California Transient/ Biggs killer whales. 6 of these apex predators were found in the Santa Barbara channel last April aboard the When we first found them, they were eating what appeared to be a sea lion carcass and began harassing 3 humpback whales. The humpbacks appeared to have fresh injuries from these killer whales. This female has not been given a catalog/ ID number and looks as if she were a sprouting male. However over the years her triangular pizza slice shaped fin has stayed the same. She travels with another female from the CA122 matriline, and may be related to CA122 in some way. She travels with a newly born calf of her own as well as a juvenile. They can be easily identified by their strange triangular dorsal fins, and extremely large eyepatches! — These mysterious outer coast transients lead unique lives that are not very well known. Where do they go when they’re not spotted? How far out to sea to they go? Hopefully time, more research, and a shared knowledge and appreciation of these charismatic creatures will tell.
Photos by
Aboard .



@ Santa Barbara, California

Words and photograph by — I still can’t believe I took this photo. I can’t believe we found killer whales today after putting in 180 miles on our extended trip with I can’t believe just how small that little dolphin looked in this bull Orca’s mouth. Today, I can’t believe I wasn’t dreaming. — A pod of three ETP killer whales was spotted off Catalina by today. More were possibly in the area but what a special and unique visit! We typically get ETPS in the month of September so I’m sure this was certainly a surprise. A once in a lifetime encounter captured during a tour

- E T P - K I L L E R - W H A L E S - are the 4th and most unheard of, of our California killer whale ecotypes. These killer whales have very faded saddle patches as compared to offshore, Biggs, or resident k-dubs. They are also often found with Xenobalanus globicipitus, a type of barnacle found on warmer water orca. Usually traveling in pods of up to 5-10 individuals these Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales are often spotted in Baja Mexico, Costa Rica, and once in a while make it up to Southern California. They seem to appear most often in CA in the month of September when water temperatures top out around 70 degrees — ETPs have been seen consuming sharks, skates, and rays like New Zealand Orcas however the past couple of times they have been seen in CA they have voraciously gone after oceanic dolphin like bottlenose and common — They seem to have a real affinity for boats as they often act like common dolphins and ride in the wake and bow of whale watch boats. These mysterious killer whales are heavily understudied and not much is known about the extent of their range, social behaviors, or identification. Hopefully more sightings and scientific studies can be conducted on these amazingly unique killer whales!
Photos by and Kristin Campbell
Aboard
September 2018








@ Newport Beach, California

- C A 5 1 B - O R I O N -
Photo ID eye patch (left side)
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Aboard .

- J A G G E D - C A - 2 1 6 - is another one of California’s extremely unique and beautiful Biggs/ transient matriarchs. She can be easily identified by her damaged dorsal fin. The damage caused to get dorsal fin is such an unusual shape and in a weird spot, it’s anybodies guess as to what caused it. (Maybe just a bite that got infected?) Her large eye patch is also an easy identifier — Jagged and her family tend to disappear for months or up to years on end without being seen. They have recently been spotted in Monterey, Newport Beach, and Santa Barbara. Her large family of about 10 whales is well known to have a very young grayish calf born to CA216C. Similar to the famous gray calf “Tl’uk,” T046B1B from the PNW Biggs subpopulation, CA216C1 has an unknown mutation that gives him/ her a gray pigmentation — Last time we had a confirmed sighting of Jagged was in Santa Barbara on October 5th, 2019. Traveling only with her juvenile CA216(d?), it seemed as though she may have begun separating herself from the rest of her large family. Marine mammal eating killer whales do this when a pod gets too large and hunting can become inefficient with so many whales chattering at once. Grouping up with the CA138’s, CA51’s (and possibly some other whales) Jagged was last seen heading North in the channel. A few days later the rest of her family was spotted off oceanside, the gray calf confirmed alive. We look forward to hearing where this beautiful gal will pop up next!
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Aboard .



@ Santa Barbara, California

- F A T F I N - C A 1 7 1 B - is an orphaned adult male killer whale. Born around the turn of the century he has become a favorite of California whale watchers. Orphaned at a very young age when his mother died in the early 2000’s his survival is actually very uncommon for a whale orphaned so young. He is frequently seen traveling alone but is also sighted with other orphaned males, or sometimes with other CA Biggs matrilines. — Fatfin is easily identifiable by his thicc dorito shaped dorsal fin and his unusually slim eye patch. He is most frequently spotted in Monterey Bay, but has been seen as far north as British Colombia. Last seen on Saturday, we are excited to see where this badass whale will pop up next!
Photos by
Aboard .




@ Monterey, California

Our friend had an epic day today with breaching killer whales in Monterey Bay! — Among the action was CA171B “Fatfin,” an adult male killer whale born around the turn of the century. He was orphaned at a very young age and often travels alone. He sometimes pops up with other random pods from time to time, or is seen with other orphaned males. We will do a full post about fatfin in the coming days and get an update on the ID of the rest of these killer whales ASAP! But for now enjoy these beautiful photos from Eric!
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Aboard .




@ Monterey Bay

Did you know that the CA51’s starred in the pilot episode of The Blue Planet (original) that aired on September 12th 2001? — 12 million UK viewers watch the episode that had a segment focused on gray whale predations by killer whales based in Monterey Bay. It shows matriarch Star, as a young mom, including CA51A Aurora (who was still a young whale traveling with her mothers pod). I think CA51B Orion can also be seen as a small calf (someone correct me on that if I’m wrong). Bumper was not yet born. Just a little neat piece of CA killer whale history for ya on this Thursday night!
Photos by
Aboard .



@ Newport Beach, California

- C A - 1 3 8 🚹 -
We call him Blade 😈
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Aboard .