Another predatory encounter between two orcas and a great white shark was caught on camera near Mossel Bay on Sunday morning.
The images, taken near Seal Island, off the Southern Cape coast, were posted on Drone Fanatics SA’s Facebook page and are believed to be the first recorded eyewitness account of such an incident to be taken from a boat and without the use of a drone.
It is believed that the whale involved in the violent encounter was Starboard, who, along with feeding partner, Port, has been involved in several recent attacks on sharks along the coastline.
In February, Getaway reported that Ralph Watson, a spokesperson for the Marine Dynamics Academy, stated that the two orcas had been seen diving down repeatedly in a small area for nearly two hours.
Later, eleven broad nose sevengill shark carcasses were discovered on the same beach.
According to Alison Towner, a PhD candidate at Rhodes University, each of the sevengill sharks was torn open and missing its liver. They were all females, ranging in size from 1.6 to 2.3 metres, and had injuries similar to those found on sharks killed by the same orca pair in False Bay.
Huge scars along the body of a 3.5-metre great white indicated that it may have survived an attack by the pair of orcas along South Africa’s southern coastline.
The images were taken near Seal Island off False Bay, South Africa, in 2017 during a shark-diving expedition.
At the time, False Bay was a great white shark hotspot before sightings started to fall. By 2019, the sharks had completely abandoned this prime seal-hunting spot. While several factors are likely to have contributed to their disappearance, scientists believe one of the key drivers was the presence of a pair of orcas (Orcinus orca) that had started preying on sharks in the area and eating their livers.
Written by Murray Swart
Pictures: DronefanaticsSA / Facebook
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