A Rare Encounter – 3/22

I’ve only seen this type of cetacean once in all the years I’ve been photographing marine wildlife. Have you ever seen these before? These animals are typically seen in tropical waters & rare to see Dana Point. “The name comes from the similarly shaped skulls that both false killer whales and killer whales have. False killer whales do share some superficial similarities, like cone-shaped teeth, with other members of the dolphin family (such as bottlenose dolphins and Pacific white-sided dolphins).”

False killer whales are actually members of the dolphin family, like orcas or pilot whales and are known to be gracious and friendly towards humans at times. Seen off the coast of Dana Point, California almost two years ago to this day while aboard @danawharf False killers whales, Pseudorca crassidens, occur in tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters of all ocean basins. In the United States, they are found around Hawaiʻi, in all Pacific Remote Island Areas, the Mariana Archipelago, and in American Samoa, as well in the Gulf of Mexico and in the warm Gulf Stream waters off the East Coast. Main Hawaiian Islands insular population listed as ‘endangered’ under the Endangered Species Act and designated as ‘depleted’ under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

-Loriannah


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