Killer whales (Orcinus orca) of the Strait of Gibraltar

We are presenting here all the individuals identified of the Strait. If you have pictures of killer whales from the Strait or Morocan coasts where the dorsal fin is clearly shown, do not hesitate to send it to us with the date of the picture and, if available, the position in latitude and longitude, by email to: . We may already have it in our catalogue. If it is the case we will send you the history of that individual (where, when and with whom we have already seen it).

To name our individuals, first they receive a number (example: Oo_Gib_002) which correspond to the species (Oo = Orcinus orca), the place the picture was taken (Gib = Gibraltar) and the number given to the individual in the catalogue (002 = the second identified individual in the catalogue). Then, we give them a name, for example Camacho which is very easy to recognise at sea as it is the only "old" male in the Strait which have a large and high dorsal fin.

To identify them, we use the contour of the dorsal fin, the scars on the dorsal saddle and the eye patch.

We are studying two populations that do not seem to interact. The first one is found the whole summer in the center-West part of the Strait, often in interactions with long line tuna fisheries. The second one can be seen near Barbate in April feeding on tunas around the tuna nets. We do not know where they are the rest of the year.