() — Researchers from the New England Aquarium observed something unusual on Sunday afternoon during aerial reconnaissance: a group of four orcas swimming just 40 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, killer whales are most common in areas surrounding the Arctic and the Caribbean. The last sighting of an orca in Massachusetts waters was in May 2022.
Katherine McKenna, associate research scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston, was the first to spot the group.
“At first I could only see two splashes in front of the plane,” McKenna said in a news release. “As we circled the area, two whales surfaced too quickly to know what it was. On the third surfacing, we were able to get a good look and see the telltale coloration before the large dorsal fins broke the surface.” .
Katherine McKenna, associate research scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston, initially set her sights on two orcas breaking the surface of the water. (Credit: New England Aquarium)
Aquarium scientists conduct routine aerial surveys to observe changes in marine animal populations and look for trends.
Orla O’Brien, associate research scientist who leads the aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life’s aerial reconnaissance team, said in the statement that the team’s observation was “particularly special” because the orca population in the western waters of the Atlantic North is very small. During their reconnaissance on Sunday, the researchers confirmed that the herd they saw included an adult male, an adult female, and two juveniles.
Another atypical sighting of killer whales –in particularly high numbers– also occurred last weekend in coastal waters on the other side of the United States, in California’s Monterey Bay.
According to Nancy Black, a marine biologist with Monterey Bay Whale Watch and director of the nonprofit California Killer Whale Project, a pod of about 30 orcas sighted there on Sunday consisted of 11 families, including six orcas from Canada.
Whales come together to socialize and build relationships with other families to hunt more effectively, Black said.
“This was the best sighting I’ve seen in my 35 years of orca research,” Black told . “Simply extraordinary.”
There was no clear explanation as to why there were so many sightings on Sunday, according to Black, who mentioned that there have been more sightings in Monterey Bay in the past two weeks.
— ‘s Laura Studley contributed to this report.
