VARIATION IN EYE‐PATCH SHAPE OF KILLER WHALES (<i>ORCINUS ORCA</i>) IN NEW ZEALAND WATERS

Visser, Ingrid N.; Mäkeläinen, Pirjo

doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2000.tb00938.x

Cited by 29 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Evans et al (1978) also state that other types of eye patches are found in the Antarctic, although not with the frequency of the oriental orientation. The orientation of the eye patch seen on the eight orca reported here was "parallel", where an imaginary line drawn through the long axis of the eye patch intersects the outline of the body at the posterior end of the tail stock, or under the tail and is consistent with eye patches found on New Zealand orca (Visser & Makelainen 2000 in press).…”

supporting

confidence: 59%

Antarctic orca in New Zealand waters?

Visser¹

1999

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

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I report on a group of orca (Orcinus orca (Linnaeus, 1758)) near the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, which were a lighter coloration than orca usually seen in these waters. Differences in pigmentation included a light grey caudal peduncle area and a dorsal cape, which has previously only been described for Antarctic orca. The size and shape of the eye patches were not consistent with orca photo-identified in New Zealand. I suggest that this group of orca, although observed in New Zealand waters, were of Antarctic origin.

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supporting

confidence: 59%

Antarctic orca in New Zealand waters?

Visser¹

1999

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

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“…Besides having similar acoustic behaviour, killer whales in Icelandic and Norwegian waters have a number of common traits: Both follow migrating herring throughout the year (Similä et al 1996;Sigurjónsson and Leatherwood 1998) and use similar hunting techniques that include herding and debilitating herring schools with the help of bubbles and using underwater tail-slaps Similä and Ugarte 1993;Simon et al 2005). Killer whales in Norwegian and Icelandic waters resemble each other more than northeast Pacific killer whales in their patterns of pigmentation (Visser and Mäkeläinen 2000), as well as in the structure of their calls (Strager and Ugarte 1995). Despite all these similarities, it is unlikely that killer whales in Icelandic and Norwegian waters belong to the same population for two reasons.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The relationship between the acoustic behaviour and surface activity of killer whales (Orcinus orca) that feed on herring (Clupea harengus)

2007

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We describe the acoustic behaviour of piscivorous killer whales in Norwegian and Icelandic waters. Whales were assigned to one of three activities (feeding, travelling or other), and sound recordings were made in their proximity with a single hydrophone and a digital audiotape (DAT) recorder. A quantitative analysis of the production of pulsed calls, whistles and echolocation clicks in the three activities revealed that there was a significant effect of activity on the production of these sound types. Both killer whales in Icelandic and Norwegian waters produced high rates of clicks and calls during feeding and low rates of click, calls and whistles during travelling. The differences can be used as acoustical markers and provides new possibilities for acoustic monitoring of killer whales in these areas. Based on the similarity between their prey choice, hunting strategies, phenotype and acoustic behaviour, we suggest that the killer whales in Icelandic and Norwegian waters belong to the same ecotype: Scandinavian herring-eating killer whales.

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“…Only characteristics that could be viewed laterally during surface activities were chosen for the analysis, consisting of the eye patch, the dorsal fin, the saddle patch and the dorsal cape. Photographs of calves and juveniles were excluded from the analysis, except for those showing the eye patch, which has been demonstrated to show consistency over time (Visser & Mäkeläinen ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ten characteristics were scored. (1) The shape of the eye patch was placed in one of nine categories described by Visser and Mäkeläinen (). (2) The position of the anterior margin of the eye patch relative to the blowhole was determined (anterior to, at, or posterior to the blowhole).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution, feeding habits and morphology of killer whales Orcinus orca in the Caribbean Sea

et al. 2014

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Killer whales Orcinus orca are found in all oceans of the world, but most of our knowledge on the species comes from studies conducted at higher latitudes. Studies on killer whales in the Caribbean have been scarce. We compiled 176 records of killer whales from the Caribbean, including 95 previously unreported records and 81 records recovered from the literature, consisting of 27 capture or kill records, 4 stranding records and 145 sighting records. Our results indicate that killer whales are widespread in the Caribbean Sea and can be found year‐round in the region. Mean group size was 3.7 animals. A diversity of prey items was recorded, including sea turtles and marine mammals and possibly fish. We cannot exclude ecotype or morphotype‐specific dietary specialization in the Caribbean population. A preliminary morphological analysis of 10 characters in 52 individuals from 21 different groups suggests that Caribbean killer whales do not represent any of the four Antarctic and subantarctic types, type 1 from the northwest Atlantic, or ‘resident’ and ‘transient’ killer whales from the northwest Pacific. Some Caribbean killer whales share a combination of characters typical of type 2 in the North Atlantic, whereas others share those typical of ‘offshore’ killer whales in the northwest Pacific. The significance of this is unclear. Comparison of Caribbean killer whales to previously described morphotypes and ecotypes is hampered by the lack of detailed, quantitative data on variation within other types, as well as by the lack of comparisons of genetic diversity. Our study adds to the growing knowledge of the diversity of killer whales worldwide but underscores that additional research is warranted in the tropics.

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VARIATION IN EYE‐PATCH SHAPE OF KILLER WHALES (ORCINUS ORCA) IN NEW ZEALAND WATERS

Cited by 29 publications

References 6 publications

Antarctic orca in New Zealand waters?

Antarctic orca in New Zealand waters?

The relationship between the acoustic behaviour and surface activity of killer whales (Orcinus orca) that feed on herring (Clupea harengus)

Distribution, feeding habits and morphology of killer whales Orcinus orca in the Caribbean Sea

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