from Patch
A pod of Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas has been spotted in the coastal waters from San Diego to Ventura.
For four weeks, Southern Californians have been dazzled with a killer sight at sea — a beautiful, breathtaking, and sometimes bloody display put on by the ocean's top predator.
There has been a surge in sightings of orcas, better known as killer whales. It's not uncommon to see orcas off the coast of California, but these killer whales are different.
This specific pod of killer whales migrated up the coast from Mexico and has been spotted in the coastal waters from San Diego to Ventura. They are Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas or ETPs.
"It's unprecedented — this long visit by these killer whales from southern waters," marine biologist Alisa Schulman-Janiger told Patch. "They're extremely rarely seen."
"It's absolutely fascinating," Schulman-Janiger added.