The Search for the Ocean's Super Predator

I'm a Sport Diver too and have done a few dives in my time............ swam with all manner of sealife in warm and cold oceans........
I love the serenity and calmness of the underwater environment but I always have a niggling thought in the back of my mind and I blame Steven Speilburg directly for this unwarranted fear........

I was however in the Maldives, South Ari Atoll and was just preparing to go snorkelling with an Ex-girlfriend around the reef...... I was waist deep in the lagoon around the island and dipped my head under the surface to come face to face with an 3m Tiger.................my reaction was to jump backwards and it turned tail and swam off but I do wonder what it was doing there ??

The tought of being eaten by another animal (or big fish) really does not appeal to me .....:wow

PDUK

My dad has footage out of Australia... I will try to get it from him, and upload it to ATS:

Out on his boat, a large inflated ball of (seal) liver pops up from under the sea. Followed by an Orca. Then another Orca.

These two orcas proceed to pay catch with this large inflated ball of liver for half an hour. Bouncing it playfully back and forth to eachother. All the while, my dad's in his little boat with a camera, standing very, very quiet.

Love those animals.

I read this as I'm getting ready to go to the ocean tomorrow! lol

I will definitely look to see the documentary. I love anything to do with the ocean and it's inhabitants. I have massive respect for the killer whale but I love sharks too.

In the case of the Orca killing the Great White and eating only the liver. The passengers of a whale watching tour boat who filmed the event stated that the Orca and her calf had just earlier killed and eaten ( I think I'm remembering correctly) an elephant seal...about 2000 lbs. I guess the GW liver is so good it just couldn't be passed by, even on a full belly.

I've seen the video, it is one awesome piece of nature at work. For some reason the shark headed for the Orca and her calf, last mistake for that shark. But the strange thing was that the next morning the researchers on the nearby Farallon Islands were surprised to find all of the Great Whites were gone. Run Away....................

reply to post by seagull


big fish (mammals) eat smaller fish. If you're reeling in a small fish, and a larger predator is in the area, you might wind up hooking that larger fish. I have a video, somewhere, of my wife pulling in a 4 foot long fish in indonesia (some kind of mackerel I think) and, after a nice long fight she suddenly gets pulled hard and then she had to be held onto by the crew as something massive was now on the line. After a few minutes of struggle, the line gave and my wife pulled up a little more than half the fish. The crew started running around the boat, getting the gear stowed. When I asked what the problem was they point into the water and gigantic tiger shark was swimming alongside the boat. The shark was about the same size as the boat.

We left in a hurry.


I've caught striped bass with small fluke on the line.

bluefish the same way

Shark while reeling in a bluefish etc


Big fish eats smaller fish, plain and simple.

Killer whales are highly intelligent so, it's easy to assume, they have some basic understanding of the "caught" fish and how to get what they want without getting caught.

Dolphin eat the same thing as tuna and bill fish and, yet, nobody every hooks them. Matter of fact, dolphin will lead fishermen to their prey. I saw this first hand. Followed a small pod that was, clearly, guiding us. No sooner did they go deep than we hooked the first marlin. A friend of mine had the same experience only he was led to tuna.

Killer whales and dolphin are smart mammals living in a world of less bright fish.

If I'm not mistaken killer whales are actually wolf like creatures that have evolved into what they are today. They didn't start off being aquatic. Quite interesting

reply to post by Pressthebutton


I've read that, too, somewhere a few years ago. A case of reverse evolution. Going back to the ocean...

Some of the observed behaviour would support that. The fact that they're at the top of the food chain, and well fed, the intelligence will keep growing, too. In a few million years, barring interference, what are they going to be like?

I watched a tv program about 2 months ago that was showing research about Great Whites and Orcas. I don't remember the show but it showed that a Great White was killed by an Orca and the blood from the great white
caused all of the sharks to leave the area where the even occurred. The evacuation was so fast and complete that the researchers were astonded.The reasearchers later went to the Caribbean and tried the Great White blood on some docile sharks in shallow water and they could not get away fast enough. So, it seems that when the blood of a Great White is spilled ALL of the sharks INCLUDING other Great Whites knew better than staying around.

reply to post by Chadwickus


when I read the title and the opening lines, I thought to myself, "Orcas kill those things and even toy with them."

sure enough, its a killer whale. They are really smart and know to turn sharks on their backs which puts them in some kind of trance for a while so they can finish them off.

I also heard killer whales are actually dolphins

Originally posted by Pressthebutton
If I'm not mistaken killer whales are actually wolf like creatures that have evolved into what they are today. They didn't start off being aquatic. Quite interesting

LOL, that's why they're called wolves of the sea right? Never mind that we gave them that name, and named wolves too. Their behavior and name have nothing to do with where they came from. They hunt the way they do because they are social and intelligent.

It's really quite simple Great Whites average about 14-17 feet, weigh about 1600-2400 pounds (females being larger than Males) and have no bone structure. Even Large Great whites top out at around 20 feet and 5000 pounds.
Orcas are closer to 20-26 feet and weigh 8800-1300 pounds (males being larger than females), they also have a bone structure, and yes that matters.

Orcas are larger, smarter, faster, more maneuverable and just plain outclass Great whites in nearly every category that would matter in a life or death struggle.


Edit: The reason the sharks vanished after the California incident mentioned earlier is believed to be because sharks release a scent upon their death that kind of acts like a warning to other sharks that something has just killed one of their own. It may be species specific, but not fully understood. Discovery did a documentary about it. They are trying to study it to manufacture it as a shark repellent and it seemed to work well in the documentary.

Could it be just a killer whale?

If not a killer whale then maybe a giant squid? I hope they find something interesting.

reply to post by OKThunder


Definitelykiller whales.

Possibly a new species too. at least the ones coming into warmer waters off the south west corner of Australia.

This last happened about 20 years ago and they're trying to find what similarities in conditions there are between then and now.

As it turns out, while it could have been an Orca, it was in all likelihood another very much larger, not to mention meaner, Great White.

All the information leads in that direction.

Netflix is great. This documentary is on there.

a reply to: seagull

Hey seagull!

I thought the final conclusion of that documentary was an Orca?

They danced around a few ideas, some pretty silly if I remember...like a giant squid, but yeah, I swear it was determined to be an Orca..

a reply to: Chadwickus



This is it, right? The blurb says, 'Produced in 2013, this Australian Natural History Documentary delves into the mysterious and violent death of a 3 metre great white shark.'

Skimming through it, I didn't see an answer. TBH the 'skim' took a minute and could have missed it.

a reply to: Chadwickus

They never flat out said it couldn't have been...

But at the very end, the main guy said that their information, such as the dive profile,and the temperature seemed to point more directly at the shark, then at the whale.

I enjoyed it. I hadn't seen it prior to tonight...and somehow, remembered this thread, so I figured...what the heck.