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Killer whale (Orcinus orca) occurrence and predation in the Bahamas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2013

Charlotte Dunn  and
Diane Claridge
Charlotte Dunn*
Affiliation:
Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation, PO Box AB-20714, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas
Diane Claridge
Affiliation:
Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation, PO Box AB-20714, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: C. Dunn, PO Box AB-20714, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) have a cosmopolitan distribution, yet little is known about populations that inhabit tropical waters. We compiled 34 sightings of killer whales in the Bahamas, recorded from 1913 to 2011. Group sizes were generally small (mean = 4.2, range = 1–12, SD = 2.6). Thirteen sightings were documented with photographs and/or video of sufficient quality to allow individual photo-identification analysis. Of the 45 whales photographed, 14 unique individual killer whales were identified, eight of which were re-sighted between two and nine times. An adult female (Oo6) and a now-adult male (Oo4), were first seen together in 1995, and have been re-sighted together eight times over a 16-yr period. To date, killer whales in the Bahamas have only been observed preying on marine mammals, including Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis), Fraser's dolphin (Lagenodelphis hosei), pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) and dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima), all of which are previously unrecorded prey species for Orcinus orca.

Keywords

killer whalesBahamaspredationAtlanticOrcinus orca
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 94 , Issue 6 , September 2014 , pp. 1305 - 1309
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

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