It is remarkable how little we really know about orcas, also known as killer whales. In January, a team of NOAA scientists located and began to study a likely new species of orca about 60 miles off the coast of Cape Horn, Chile, at the very tip of South America. The species referred to as Type D, looks quite different from other orcas, with a more rounded head, a pointier and narrower dorsal fin, and a very small white eye patch.
The Type D was type D killer whales, were previously known from amateur photographs, fishermen’s descriptions, and one mass stranding—but never encountered in their natural state by cetacean experts.
I’ve seen D type Jaguars but never a D type Orca 🙂
Saw it on TV news yesterday, said it was discovered back in 1950’s.
Type D
Subantarctic orcas (the 5th ecotype in the Southern Hemisphere) were discovered in the 1950s in a mass stranding event in New Zealand. This was a retroactive discovery, however – at the time, they were thought to be a mutated type of the worldwide orca species. While they share the black-and-white colouring and saddle patch patterns of other orcas, these orcas have shorter dorsal fins, rounder heads, and the smallest eye patches of any ecotype, giving them a very specific appearance. Since then, there have only been a handful of sightings of this rare ecotype, but enough for researchers to realize they are a unique ecotype and not just a mutation. They have been seen consuming Patagonian toothfish, but like the Ross Sea orcas, it is still unknown if they are fish specialists.
https://us.whales.org/meet-the-different-types-of-orcas/