‘Beautiful’ creatures spotted for only second time in Monterey Bay. See predators swim
While on a tour in Monterey Bay, boaters recently spotted four black-finned sea creatures “zigzagging.”
It was a group of killer whales.
“Our vessel Blackfin just found orcas! A group of 4 were zigzagging, and now look like they are starting to hunt,” Monterey Bay Whale Watch wrote in an Nov. 6 Facebook post.
Experts with the California Killer Whale Project identified two of the whales as CA49C, known as Venus, and one of her offspring, CA49C1, the tour agency wrote in another post. The other two orcas were harder to identify.
Eventually, it was determined that Venus and her offspring, both “California regulars,” were joined by T344 and T344A, killer whales from the Pacific Northwest, Colleen Talty from Monterey Bay Whale Watch told McClatchy News in an email.
“We have only seen (T344 and T344A) off Monterey twice before,” Talty said.
A video shows the four whales diving through the water side by side.
Social media users commented on the “beautiful” creatures.
“Lucky you,” one person wrote.
“Stunning!” another comment said.
Killer whales are “the ocean’s top predator,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The black and white creatures are found in every ocean in the world, in open seas and coastal waters.
The whales are very social, and they tend to live in groups known as “pods,” which are typically made up of maternally related individuals, NOAA experts said. They usually hunt in groups, working together to catch prey.
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