Killer Whales Pursuing Common Dolphins off Moss Landing

Calm seas greeted us off Moss Landing this morning aboard Ocean Spirit, where we documented a dynamic predatory pursuit. A group of six killer whales attempted to hunt within a massive aggregation of roughly 3,000 long-beaked common dolphins, sending the dolphins into an expansive, high-speed stampede across the surface. Despite the orcas' coordinated approach, the dolphins maintained sufficient speed and cohesion to evade capture.

Stampeding is a well-documented antipredator strategy in schooling delphinids. By running synchronously at sustained speed with shallow, rapid porpoising, a pod of this scale creates profound acoustic and visual confusion, making it exceptionally difficult for mammal-hunting killer whales to isolate and corner a single individual.

The surrounding waters were dense with wildlife throughout the morning. We tallied approximately 30 humpback whales dispersed across the area, working the rich fall waters alongside 500 California sea lions, a solitary Northern fur seal, and extensive bird flocks comprising 200 brown pelicans, 100 common murres, 40 Brandt's cormorants, and two parasitic jaegers.

Fall conditions along the Monterey Submarine Canyon frequently generate dense gatherings of forage and apex predators, but seeing natural defense tactics deployed on this scale remains a remarkable observation of wild cetacean behavior.