A diver swimming off the coast of California has captured uncommon footage of an orca biting right into a whale shark and ripping out its liver.
The video was filmed within the Sea of Cortez off the Golden State by James Moskito. He encountered a pod of eight killer whales whereas underwater who had been searching whale sharks.
The exceptional footage reveals a killer whale feeding from the abdomen of a 30-foot lengthy whale shark earlier than eradicating its liver. The orca’s fellow cetaceans might be heard clicking with pleasure close by.
It seems the whale shark is already lifeless as a result of as quickly because the orca lets go the shark sinks into the abyss.
58-year-old Moskito, who operates Ocean Safaris, tells Live Science that the incident was over in a matter of seconds.
“[It] seems like they slurped within the liver after which the whale shark simply fell and descended down, with no motion — I’m assuming it was lifeless,” says Moskito.
The diver witnessed one other orca assault on a special whale shark shortly after the liver-eating episode. He noticed “thrashing on the floor with a killer whale connected to it.”
Whereas it’s uncommon for this conduct to be captured on movie, scientists and researchers are conscious that orcas interact in this sort of hunt and it’s widespread across the Farallon Islands in northern California.
It’s current too in South Africa the place two killer whales have grow to be specialised in eating the livers of great white sharks. A lot in order that the nice whites have largely deserted the realm for concern of them.
Final yr, PetaPixel reported on helicopter and drone footage of the two orcas off the coast of South Africa searching an excellent white shark, capturing a bloody battle that finally ended within the nice white’s demise.
“Shark livers are extraordinarily fatty, so there’s lots of energy in there,” Michael Weiss, analysis director on the Heart for Whale Analysis, tells Insider.
Orcas are extremely good and can look to take essentially the most energy from any state of affairs. Researchers speculate that they use their sonar to detect the very best a part of their prey to eat.
