Indeed! I saw those same killer whales a year ago in Anchorage. Our dataset has several examples of probable cookiecutter shark bites on killer whales in Japan, Alaska, the Crozet Islands, and the Azores.
With over 40 authors and interactions spanning 12 countries and territories, this was truly a global collaboration, and I hope this dataset will be useful for future research on marine predators!
A blue infographic with simplified illustrations of various sharks and rays centered around a killer whale. The infographic describes the results of a new paper.
I’m pleased to share our new paper in Scientific Data!
We compiled the first open-access, image-based dataset capturing diverse interactions between killer whales and elasmobranchs 🦈🐋 (orca emoji coming soon…)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thanks for sharing our article! 🦈🐋
At the Neptune Islands, 12 years of observational + acoustic data show white sharks respond to killer whale presence with short-term avoidance, not long-term disappearance.
Context matters. Killer whales aren’t always a driver of shark absence.
🔗 connectsci.au/wr/article/5...
Beautiful design by Tsmishian (Alaska Native) artist to support those in MN via the ACLU NARF fund
www.customink.com/fundraising/...
Preprint: our systematic review of hybrids between blue whales and fin whales. There are 46 possible cases, of which 17 have been genetically confirmed (15 from the North Atlantic!)
doi.org/10.22541/au....
A male resplendent quetzal
A sloth sleeping in a tree
A pair of yellow-throated toucans in a tree
And some terrestrial Costa Rican wildlife!
Seeing a resplendent quetzal was AMAZING—they live only in cloud forests in parts of southern Mexico and Central America and can be difficult to spot! Certainly the most exquisite bird I’ve ever seen.
The sloths and toucans are incredible too! 🦥
A false killer whale breaching
A false killer whale doing an aerial scan
False killer whales surfacing in front of wooded hills
Three false killer whales surfacing together
Starting off 2026 with new cetaceans! I am in Costa Rica and saw my first false killer whales a few days ago off the coast of Uvita 🇨🇷
A silvery-gray newborn killer whale surfaces next to its mother
A good example can be found in CA216C1 “Frosty,” a Bigg’s killer whale with pale coloration (over time, this calf turned white with certain areas of black). Its patches were completely white at birth, no hint of orange anywhere…
Photo: Alisa Schulman-Janiger
www.facebook.com/share/1EpDTZ...
However, it is not universal…killer whales with pigmentation abnormalities (e.g., leucism/albinism, Chédiak–Higashi syndrome) do not seem to display this orange color as newborns.
Even though this coloration is seen across all killer whale subspecies and ecotypes, there hasn’t been much investigation into the cause(s).
An infographic depicting illustrations of a killer whale calf, from top to bottom, as a newborn, at 3-6 months, and at 1 year. The illustrations show changes in pigmentation and body condition over time.
A killer whale undergoes many changes in its first year of life!
They emerge after an 18-month gestation period, pencil-thin and completely toothless. Their tiny bodies are wrinkled from spending more than a year curled up in the uterus. Newborn calves are also distinct due to their peachy hue.
This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important
Wild map: all the places in the world where killer whales take fish from fishing activities, often right off hooks on lines
By @emmaluck22.bsky.social et al.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
Frontiers | A global review of operational fishery interactions with killer whales (Orcinus orca): dynamics, impacts, and management strategies
There’s a lot more in our paper and I hope you will give it a read! It is open-access
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
We found some other interesting things, such as the fact that killer whales depredate at least 30 species of fish from commercial fisheries!
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for addressing fishery interactions with killer whales; however, we can enhance our approach by incorporating more concepts from the social sciences.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
Both interaction types can result in injury or death for killer whales, but they differ in their economic impacts on fisheries and the risk of fisher retaliation.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
Killer whale interactions with fisheries are widespread; they occur in all oceans and involve various gear types (but especially longlines).
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
We found that killer whales interactions could be broadly split into two main types: depredation (removal of catch or bait directly from gear) and commensalism (feeding on spilled catch/bycatch/discards/other animals attracted to fishing activities)
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
We reviewed 69 papers from 1963-2024 to get a better understanding of where and how killer whales interact with commercial fisheries around the world, as well as identify knowledge gaps and policy/management options.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
I am pleased to share our new review paper detailing killer whale interactions with commercial fisheries in Frontiers in Marine Science!
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...
Accepted! I can’t wait to share more soon! 🤩
Some exciting news to share—I recently started a new position as an Alaska Sea Grant State Fellow! For the next year, I’ll be working with the Alaska Mariculture Alliance on policy and other topics related to Alaska’s budding mariculture industry 🌊 🦪🌱
alaskaseagrant.org/2025/08/alas...
The culprit of the mass seastar deaths in the Pacific was not a virus as thought, but a Vibrio bacteria strain
www.washington.edu/news/2025/08...
A torbie cat looks at a laptop screen with a photo of a killer whale as the desktop image
A torbie cat stares very intently with her down, gazing at a photo of a killer whale in a book
Every now and then I catch my cat Sushi staring at photos of killer whales with remarkable intensity…
They do say pets take after their owners!
Alaska's Rep. Nick Begich has proposed text that would drastically weaken the incredible Marine Mammal Protection Act. Cooper Freeman, the Center's Alaska director, explains why these changes would be terrible for Alaskans and the state's wildlife. 👇
www.adn.com/opinions/202...
