By: Staff Writer
September 5, 2023
Orca’s or “Killer Whales” are predominantly known for being in northern temperate waters in the Atlantic have been spotted off the coast of Eleuthera in The Bahamas two months ago by local excursion operators and their guests.
Guests, stunned to see such majestic animals this far down in the Caribbean, were reported to be seen whale watching and sailing alongside the Orca’s in what was said to be a friendly sail along.
This has happened along with sightings of a Greenland shark off the coast of Belize. Greenland sharks can live for 400 years or more but they are very rarely seen, having long been associated with deep, cold Arctic waters.
So scientific researchers were shocked when what seemed to be just such a sleeper shark turned up near their boat– not only to come across such a rare creature but because at the time they were tagging tiger sharks in balmy Belize, 4,000 miles south of the Arctic.
Orcas, on the other hand, are found in all oceans and most seas. Due to their enormous range, numbers, and density, relative distribution is difficult to estimate, but they clearly prefer higher latitudes and coastal areas over pelagic environments.[47] Areas which serve as major study sites for the species include the coasts of Iceland, Norway, the Valdes Peninsula of Argentina, the Crozet Islands, New Zealand and parts of the west coast of North America, from California to Alaska.
Systematic surveys indicate the highest densities of orcas in the northeast Atlantic around the Norwegian coast, in the north Pacific along the Aleutian Islands, the Gulf of Alaska and in the Southern Ocean off much of the coast of Antarctica. They are considered “common” (0.20–0.40 individuals per 100 km2) in the eastern Pacific along the coasts of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, in the North Atlantic Ocean around Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
So Orca appearance in warm Caribbean waters, while more likely than Greenland sharks, are still puzzling scientists who are baffled by their recent appearances in Caribbean waters.
Worldwide population estimates are uncertain, but recent consensus suggests a minimum of 50,000 (2006). Local estimates include roughly 25,000 in the Antarctic, 8,500 in the tropical Pacific, 2,250–2,700 off the cooler northeast Pacific and 500–1,500 off Norway.[55] Japan’s Fisheries Agency estimated in the 2000s that 2,321 orcas were in the seas around Japan.