ORCAS: Mystery whales off West Seattle (photos added)

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Whales

(Added: Viewfinder photo by Brittany of PNW Orca Pod Squad Photography, at Pt. Williams)

11:56 AM: “We have an extremely rare orca sighting this morning,” Kersti Muul reports. “Currently off Brace Point southbound. These are whales with no IDs that have only been previously seen twice” – in the Gulf of Alaska and Vancouver (BC) Harbor – “and they have cookie-cutter shark marks on them, which means they came from warmer waters.”

3:30 PM: Steven Rice linked video in a comment below and also sent photos:

waikikigirl March 11, 2026 (1:08 pm)

WOW!!! So exciting or is this a bad thing them coming from warm water to cold water?

Just wondering March 11, 2026 (1:10 pm)

“Cookie cutter shark marks” ?

Also wondering... March 11, 2026 (1:35 pm)

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This confused me as well. More information would be helpful.
Cookie March 11, 2026 (4:22 pm)

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Cookie cutter shark is a type of shark. Their bite looks like a fluted cookie cutter if you will. 🤣

Samantha March 11, 2026 (1:20 pm)

Omg! Dont we have six gill sharks here?? Could it have been one of them? This is fascinating.

Kate March 11, 2026 (1:35 pm)

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We do have six gill sharks, but they’re shy and not aggressive. Plus, they dwell in deep waters which is why they have an extra gill so they get more oxygen. But I bet Kersti will have more information. They’re really fascinating creatures!

WSB March 11, 2026 (1:41 pm)

https://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/37_2_Dwyer.pdf
In other words, the orcas were apparently bitten by cookie-cutter sharks.

Steve Rice March 11, 2026 (1:44 pm)

Here’s my video of them right off Alki Beach this morning. If you turn up the volume you can hear the large male.

WSB March 11, 2026 (2:01 pm)

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Video didn’t come through and wouldn’t in a comment unless it’s a link to a third-party host like YT or Vimeo (or you can send it to us and we’ll upload)…
- Steve Rice March 11, 2026 (2:06 pm)
  
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  Oh weird, I put a YouTube link in the Insert Video formatting tool, but who knows! Here’s the link.

montana March 11, 2026 (1:45 pm)

It’s a species of deep water sharks that bite or gouge holes as it attempts to feed. These are also known as cigar sharks. It seems these orcas have scars that give us the clue they are from down south.

Just wondering March 11, 2026 (2:46 pm)

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Thank you Montana!
- Also wondering... March 11, 2026 (4:33 pm)
  
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  Yes, thank you! It was absolutely not clear from the original comment that “cookie cutter” is a type of shark. Science communication done well looks easy, but requires skill.

Aimee March 11, 2026 (3:56 pm)

CBC had an article with more information about these whales a few days ago.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/3-unidentified-orcas-spotted-in-vancouver-9.7121475

David Hutchinson March 11, 2026 (4:41 pm)

In December of last year, Seal Sitters responded to a couple of California Sea Lions at the Don Armeni boat ramp. One of these animals had circular bite marks that were thought to be from a cookie cutter shark.

Kersti Muul March 11, 2026 (6:28 pm)

The bites mean the whales frequent the open ocean (oceanic killer whales) where cookie cutter sharks are. They make the unique mark.This is the first time this group has been so far in-shore.One researcher is cataloging them as:OCX085, OCX086, and OCX087 (OC = Outer coast)Sorry for the late update, been hanging with the whales. What an incredible day.Such wild creatures…fortunate to have been able to squeeze this into the schedule today.

anonyme March 12, 2026 (6:26 am)

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Does this mean they are transient/mammal eating? So cool and mysterious. I wonder what their presence here means, or is it just a fluke (no pun intended)?
- Kersti Muul March 12, 2026 (3:46 pm)
  
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  This is the furthest inshore these types of whales have ever been (as far as we know; there’s a lot of water out there and a small number of whales can go unseen for a long time )these whales were in the Gulf of Alaska a year ago, and Vancouver harbor a week ago. Other than that, no other sightings. We saw no surface predation yesterday and the Male, especially, cruised the shoreline, at times 15-30 feet from me. They went to Tacoma and then into Foss waterway. They ignored seals and sea lions and chased a few birds. Not sure exactly what the preferred prey is, and it seems counter intuitive for outer coast whales to be cruising the shallows, but they are in a strange new place so it’s all new data and extremely exciting to witness. They were in West Bay Marina earlier today checking out some hauled out seals on log booms but didn’t grab any.They appear to be oceanic killer whales, which occupy open waters. They have a different diet than Biggs/transients with some crossover. The cookie 🍪 cutter marks are a helpful clue 🧩 Hopefully they stick around till the wind dies down and NOAA can get some time on the water with them.

Kersti Muul March 11, 2026 (6:47 pm)

I cropped, expanded and edited Brittany’s pics from today and labeled the ‘cookies’

Suzanne March 12, 2026 (4:39 am)

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This is fascinating. If these are the same orcas as the ones in Aimee’s comment above, their ability to adapt to endless conditions is extraordinary, and the size of their pod seems far smaller than what we’re used to seeing.

re Aimee’s link to the CBC, could the orca in the second photo could be the same one in your image? This is based on the white marking on the saddle and the slight indentation on the fin.

Per Aimee’s linked article, “Researchers are urging people who photograph the whales to upload images to Finwave.io, which helps researchers identify individual orcas.”
- Kersti Muul March 12, 2026 (3:35 pm)
  
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  Yes we confirmed this yesterday as soon as Brittany got photographs at Coleman pool. We matched them to the photos sent to us from Vancouver harbor from several days ago. That’s why I sent to Tracy as confirmed. It wasn’t a question.It’s super cool.
  
  Our photos have been sent in to Bey Cetology (finwave) as well as NOAA (local)

Kersti Muul March 11, 2026 (6:54 pm)

Did the same with Jeff Hogan’s picture from when the male passed underneath us today, less noticable than when on the saddle…but still visible.

Jenn March 11, 2026 (10:53 pm)

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Was this the pass under the Des Moines Pier? I was standing there too and I’m still processing that it happened! It was absolutely epic!
- Kersti Muul March 12, 2026 (8:57 am)
  
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  Yezzzz. Wasn’t that something. That male (OCXO86/T120) cruised the shoreline all day so close, from Elliot Bay to Dash point.We are all so lucky to have seen them like this.