Classification
- Order
- Cetacea
- Suborder
- Odontocete
- Family
- Delphinidae
- Genus
- Orcinus
- Species
- Orcinus Orca
It is the largest of the dolphins (Delphinidae), with a streamlined, rounded and robust body and a very prominent dorsal fin. The dominant colour is black, but it has a grey saddle-shaped area behind the dorsal fin and several sharply defined white areas: a large patch behind each eye, the chin, the chest and the belly, and the underside of the tail fluke. The head is rounded and has no beak. It reaches 9 metres in length and 8 tonnes in weight.
It is a cosmopolitan species, more frequent in cold, food-rich waters; in the Mediterranean it occurs only occasionally.
Its longest dives last 30 minutes and reach depths of 1000 metres. It often raises just its head out of the water, and it leaps vertically clear of the surface before falling back with a half twist onto its back.
Known as a fierce predator, it has the most varied diet of all cetaceans and can feed on prey of every size, such as seals, fish, turtles, squid, seabirds and other cetaceans. Its hunting strategy is characterised by close cooperation among members of the same group.
It is a cetacean that lives in family groups known as “pods”, which can number up to 50 individuals.
