When John Dickie saw a herd of about 15 killer whales while captaining his whale watching boat at Kilcunda, off the coast of Gippsland, earlier this week, he knew it was a special experience.
Key points:
- The killer whale pod was identified as type C, which had not been previously recorded in Victorian waters.
- It is possible that killer whales have ventured north to get rid of a type of algae that grows on their skin in cooler waters.
- A second larger sighting occurred the same day within walking distance
“It was an amazing sight and they were very interactive,” he said.
“We stopped about 100 meters away from them … and they came straight at us and swam around the boat.”
In his 30 years in the industry, he said he had seen killer whales about three times a year in groups of up to five, but these stayed longer than usual and looked different.
“I was a little confused about what they were at first because I’ve seen killer whales a lot of times on different trips, but these guys were a little different, a little smaller than we usually see,” he said. .
It was only later when he sent the images to David Donnelly of the Dolphin Research Institute that he realized how special the observation was.
“What we have determined is that in fact these are type C Antarctic killer whales, the first record of them occurred in the Bass Strait and in Victorian waters, and only the seventh nationally,” he said. Donnelly.
“Seeing them in our waters is incredibly rare and the first record in Victorian coastal waters.”
Donnelly said type C killer whales were the smallest in the world and ate fish, not other mammals.
Two sightings in one day
Mr. Dickie’s observation was followed by a second larger vision nearby.
“Since that event that happened with Wildlife Coast Cruises, another event was recorded in Cape Patterson, where between 30 and 40 type C killer whales were recorded,” Donnelly said.
A larger group of type C killer whales was detected after John Dickie captured images of these in Kilcunda. (Provided by: Wildlife Coast Cruises)
“When you start talking 30 to 40, that’s someone’s estimate, we haven’t counted them, but it’s certainly more than what was seen before the same day and fits more into what we expect the killer whales to be. type C in terms of the size of its sheath.
“They usually hang out in groups of between 20 and more than 100 animals at a time.
“So it’s an absolutely amazing event and we need to capture a little better. We need as many photos as we can get, as much information as possible.”
Why are they here?
Donnelly said mammals could be moving north so they could remove diatoms, a type of algae that grow on their skin in colder water.
Killer whales have lost their common orange-yellow hue when living in cooler waters. (Provided by: Wildlife Coast Cruises)
“If you saw a type C killer whale in the waters of Antarctica, it would appear a yellowish orange color, instead of the gray and white color we’ve been seeing in recent days,” Donnelly said.
When analyzing the images of Wildlife Coast Cruises, he also saw a young calf.
“All the records we have of type C killer whales in our coastal waters, i.e. New South Wales, Tasmania and now Victoria, all records include new calves, which is pretty amazing,” he said. Donnelly.
“John’s observation the other day is no exception: there was a very young calf among those we spotted in the photograph they provided us.”
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