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Orca (Orcinus orca) or Killer Whale.
Contributed by Rosemary Tully of Whakatane Bird Rescue.
Photos by Rosemary Tully
Page sponsor is Whyte
Weddings Photography. Wedding Photographers at Ohope, Whakatane and
the Eastern Bay of Plenty.
 This
is the largest member of the dolphin family and it can sometimes be seen
a few hundred metres from the beach.
The male has a very large dorsal fin and both male and
female have white patches behind the eye and a white/greyish saddle behind
the dorsal fin.
The photograph was taken off Opotiki from the boat Te Tahi and
shows the large dorsal fin of the male.
Orca sometimes come into the harbour and will eat stingrays,
this maybe why they sometimes come in very close to shore.
Pods of orca travel around New Zealand, and their white patches or the
shape of the fin are used to identify individuals.
They can pass by any time of the year.
When a pod of Orca have come near to the beach at Ohope
the local school have allowed the children to view the orca and learn
about the marine mammal.
 The
photograph to the right was taken off the Whakatane Heads from the boat
Te Tahi and shows a family group with the young calf just beside the mother.
This gives a good view of the sizes of the male and female dorsal fin.
The calf is very very young, as the fin is not yet standing upright.
Orca take amongst their food, seal, squid, fish, dolphins
and whales. They
can grow to 9.8m.
The adult weight can reach 9 tonnes.
© Ohope Beach.info 2003
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