Boat crew witnesses whale fight near Everett
The Pacific Whale Watch Association says there’s a reason orcas are called killer whales.
They say this week, a whale-on-whale battle between transient orcas, also known as Bigg’s killer whales, and 40-ton gray whales, played out not far offshore from Everett.
“It was a clash of the titans out there,” said senior deckhand and naturalist Tyson Reed of Island Adventures Whale Watching. “We had just watched this group of Bigg’s conduct an incredibly efficient hunt of some unlucky sea mammal just off the west side of Gedney Island – precise, quick, agile movements, ripping it apart, feeding the small parts to the young. Spectacular, as always with these guys, but then the show really began.”
The crew then saw the group of four killer whales continue north into Saratoga Passage and directly into the company of two adult “Saratoga gray whales,” part of about a dozen migratory eastern north Pacific grays that come into this part of Puget Sound each spring to feed on ghost shrimp.
“Four killer whales aren’t about to take on two 40-ton grays,” said Reed. “Or at least we thought they wouldn’t. But one of the transients, who we know as T137A, decided to have a go at these guys and the battle was on. Pec fins began to fly left and right as the grays rolled onto their backs and blasted T137A with their blows. They were definitely not happy to have the orca intruding on them and were fighting back.”
http://www.king5.com/news/local/boat-crew-witnesses-whale-fight-off-everett/115929880
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