July 5th - Exotics Visiting Saltspring Island!

Wow! What an exciting day! On Thursday we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to see the exotics (T175 and T176s) travelling together with the T37A's right off of Saltspring Island.

Volker (T37A) is a female born in 1994 and a proudly mother of four. Photo by Alanna Vivani

The exotics transient orcas (T175 and T176's) are infrequent visitors to the Salish Sea, to have them so close to us is very exciting! This sub-group, also known as outer-coastal orcas, are more commonly found around the continental shelf off the coast of California. While here, they are quite easily to spot, a little larger than our usual pods of transient killer whales.

Lucky for us, there were already boats on scene when we arrived so spotting them was a little easier!

T175 has a very unique dorsal fin. Photo by Alanna Vivani

There were two big males in the group, quite evident by the large dorsal fins surfacing out of the water. Each dorsal fin is unique to an orca, along with the markings on them and on the saddle patch just behind the base of the dorsal fin. T175, for example, has a huge and wonky dorsal fin that make him quite easy to identify.

Did you know that adult male killer whales have the largest dorsal fin in all the cetaceans!? Come with us in our next adventure and learn more about these such amazing creatures!

Jilann LechnerJuly 9, 2018Comment