Orcas kill bronze whaler shark in Walker Bay

Writer: De Waal Steyn.

Two Orcas named Port and Starboard are believed to be behind the first recorded carcass of a copper shark (also known as bronze whaler shark) last week in the Walker Bay area.

Port and Starboard made international headlines in May 2017 when they were linked to the killing of several great whites, as well as sevengill sharks in South Africa.

The carcass of the three-metre-long bronze whaler shark was found on Wednesday, 5 February after it washed up on Grotto beach.

Resident Riekie Louw spotted the carcass on the beach and alerted The Village NEWS, which in turn contacted the Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) team, who collected the dead shark.

Ralph Watson, a marine biologist from Marine Dynamics, and Dickie Chivell took part in the necropsy that was done last week on the carcass of a three-metre-long bronze whaler shark, which was predated on by a duo of orcas named Port and Starboard. These orcas made international headlines in 2017 after they were found to be responsible for predating on great white sharks. Apart from the great white shark killings, it seems the pair was also responsible for the killing of five broad-nosed sevengill sharks (also known as cow sharks) that washed ashore last year in Betty’s Bay. Orcas are apex predators and they appear to have a predilection for organ meat. Orcas will essentially split a shark open. Each orca grabs a pectoral fin, then the shark is flipped over and pulled apart, splitting open the throat and chest cavity and eventually exposing the liver.

PHOTO: Marine Dynamics/Dyer Island Conservation Trust

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