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The SoCal Holy Grail

Most of my more than 5 decades has been as a San Diego resident. I didn’t even know for the first 4 of those that orca actually made appearances off our coast. Really? How could I not have known that? Once learning this, it became a mission of mine to experience them for myself. Easier said than done.

Dana Wharf Whale Watch excellently summarizes the ecotypes of orca that we see of our coast in Southern California as follows.
Dana Wharf Whale Watch
Offshore
Large pods that can number from 20 to 100 individuals is not uncommon for offshores. Latest studies show there might be approximately 250-300 offshore killer whales off the coastline of California, Oregon and Washington. Offshores have been to known to be one of the most well traveled killer whales. One individual was seen in Dutch Harbor, Alaska and then here in Dana Point, that is a 2756 mile journey! Their dorsal fins tend to have a rounded tip and tend to have a closed saddle patch (the white patch located behind the dorsal fin). The diet of offshores consist of large fish and sharks. Offshores have been seen eating blue sharks and sleeper sharks. The rough skin of these sharks causes another unique feature of offshores, worn down teeth. Bodies of mature offshores recovered have shown teeth that are almost worn down to the gums.

Transients
The transient killer whales range covers pretty much the entire West Coast of North America. A transient killer whale that has been seen by Dana Wharf Whale Watching has been seen as far North as British Columbia, Canada. Pods of transients can number to about 10 individuals. Estimates of California transients have not been recently determined but, guesses by biologist range from 105 to possibly 180 individuals. Transients are known to be one of the larger, more heavy bodied ecotypes of killer whales. They tend to have a pointed dorsal fin and closed saddle patch. Marine mammals make up the diet of transient killer whales. Common dolphin, sea lions, harbor seals and elephant seals have been seen being consumed by transients off the coast of California. Gray whale calves are also a frequent prey item for these killer whales.
Eastern Tropical Pacific’s (ETPs)
The Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales spotted by Dana Wharf Whale Watching have not been placed into a ecotype by researchers at this time, there is still much to learn about the ETPs. The term ETP is used to describe the area these whales are seen, as far South as Peru and as far East towards the Hawaiian Islands. About 195 ETPs have been identified in a catalog published in 2008. A faint to almost non-existent saddle patch is common on these killer whales. They are known to eat marine mammals and have been witnessed preying on bottlenose and common dolphins off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. There is also a case of ETPs preying on mammals as large as a blue whale.

 

Last week a video surfaced on the news of fisherman on a boat with orca “chasing” them reportedly for over an hour, playing in their wake just 35 miles from San Diego.

 

Yeah,  game on whale enthusiasts!  Let’s play follow the orca.  So I kept checking the different whale watching boats sightings logs, Facebook posts, the news and found they had been seen off Newport Beach.  Being a late night internet surfer, I decided to set my alarm for a couple hours from that point and head up to Newport Beach for their first trip out in the morning.

I’ve chased these guys this way before, not really the best method as they move quickly and follow food so they don’t exactly linger in any one area, but it was the best chance I had and any day on the water is better than housecleaning so…

I like Davey’s Locker Whale Watching in Newport Beach so I went out with them.Davey’s Locker Whale Watching   It was a beautiful, warm late summer morning, slight swell, but no wind chop so visibility was terrific.  Our captain was communicating with the other boats out of Newport and Dana Point, hoping to acquire the orca, but in the meantime there was no sign of marine mammal life to be found.  We headed south and after about 45 minutes he announced that boats up ahead were on a pod of orca.  I was a little surprised that the other passengers didn’t completely lose their minds at this point, but it didn’t stop me!  Enthusiasm is contagious and with some excellent narration from the captain the passengers’ excitement grew as we drew closer.

We could see even from a distance the tall dorsal fins and spouts as the whales seemed to go back and forth between the boats that were observing them.  When I pause and worry about the negative effects of whale watching on the whales themselves, I remember things like this.  Those boats were idling and the whales were actively investigating them, fully capable of diving and disappearing quickly if they were bothered by the activity.  When we approached, we became part of the whales’  path of exploration, offering us excellent views of this most rare of Southern California sightings.

Pardon the video quality,  cell phone in bright sunlight in the hands of an overly excited amateur…

As you can see from the video, the saddle patches on these particular whales are quite pale, almost difficult to see on a couple of them which is one of the characteristics of this ecotype, the Eastern Tropical Pacific or ETP.  This made it an even more exciting sighting, as they are rarely seen in our waters.  We were able to spend about 20 minutes with the whales before we had to head back in to dock.  They were speeding south at a pretty good pace, but I hoped they would turn around so I took the next trip out too.  They did not turn around and we did not catch up to them on the second trip.  That is how hard it is to anticipate finding them based on when they were just seen!

Whale Parts from the Cabinets at the San Diego Natural History Museum

One of the nice things about volunteering as a whaler (a naturalist on the Hornblower whale watching cruises out of San Diego) for the San Diego Natural History Museum, is that you can pop in to the museum at any time to check out a few items that go on display.  You are also given the odd notice that a whale penis is going to be exhibited, so get on over there and see it, because their original owners don’t really display that for us in the wild too often!  You haven’t fully experienced life as a whale geek until you have asked a docent at the museum if they know where to find the whale penis.

I thought maybe some other people would be interested in these curiosities so I took some pictures and video and thought I would post them here.  The most inconspicuously displayed piece in the collection was the penis, hung over a cabinet of preserved reptiles that were sure to catch your attention making it easy to ignore the 8 foot (or so) penis hanging above.  It was not labelled as to what kind of whale,  my husband quickly quipped “sperm whale” when someone pondered out loud about it.  NAT whale penis

A little research on whale penises was in order if I were to actually post this provocative picture.  So, blue whales have the largest penis of any known living animal.  It can measure anywhere from 8 to 10 feet long and is hidden in a genital slit for a more streamlined silhouette for swimming and also to protect the reproductive organs.   Matthew Dean from The University of Southern California has done some study on whale penises and pelvic bones.  “The penis of a whale or a dolphin is very dextrous,” says Dean. “It has a mind of its own.” Specifically, it’s controlled by two strong muscles that pull with differing tension to let the organ change shape. “I think of it like a trick kite, controlled by two strings and capable of complex motion. That’s a whale’s penis to me.”

I thought that deserved a closer look.

Another interesting piece that was on exhibit was a narwahl tusk.  This is something that I really did not want to discover was so beautiful.  The idea that a single thing so desirable exists on a unicorn like animal makes me fear for the whales, but it does deserve to be seen.

NAT norwahl tusk side

NAT norwahl tusk front
Close up

As with most things in nature, that which is exquisite in form is often exquisite in function. Many things have been theorized about this up to 9 foot left canine tooth.  A weapon, sexual dimorphism, a literal ice breaker?

It ends up that they have adapted one of the most sensitive echolocation systems in existence.   Like dolphins and other whales they produce clicks and use the sound waves bouncing off their surroundings to form a view of their environment.  But the tooth doesn’t have the protection of hard, external enamel and that makes it sensitive to stimuli, giving them an advantage over all other echolocating species.

Scientists suspect that the tooth plays a role in echolocation by allowing seawater to enter it through pores in its tip. Bubbles then travel through the shaft and excite nerve endings at the base of the tooth near the head, sending signals to the brain about the narwhal’s surroundings.

The tooth is also used in dominance fighting amongst each other, as evidenced by marks on the tusks themselves.

They have also filmed the first proof that they use the tusk to find and stun their prey while hunting.  Here’s the first drone video of that phenomenon.

So, let’s keep these beautiful appendages on these amazing beasts!

And the final specimen I wanted to share is this spectacular lower jaw of a sperm whale.

 

And I just pulled a Wikipedia blurb on the jaw for you, because I couldn’t find anything too spectacular about it, beyond it’s sheer existence.

The sperm whale’s lower jaw is very narrow and underslung.[48] The sperm whale has 18 to 26 teeth on each side of its lower jaw which fit into sockets in the upper jaw.[48] The teeth are cone-shaped and weigh up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) each.[49] The teeth are functional, but do not appear to be necessary for capturing or eating squid, as well-fed animals have been found without teeth or even with deformed jaws. One hypothesis is that the teeth are used in aggression between males.[50] Mature males often show scars which seem to be caused by the teeth. Rudimentary teeth are also present in the upper jaw, but these rarely emerge into the mouth.[51] Analyzing the teeth is the preferred method for determining a whale’s age. Like the age-rings in a tree, the teeth build distinct layers of cementum and dentine as they grow.

So that is what real whale geeks do when they go to Balboa Park for the December Nights holiday light event that draws approximately 350,000 people to the park.  We take pictures of whale junk.  Literally.