Is There A Sea Creature Scarier Than A Great White Shark?

The great white shark is the largest known predatory fish in the world. It has 300 teeth yet does not chew its food—it only rips and swallows. The shark’s heavy, torpedo-like body allows it to cruise efficiently for a long time and then suddenly switch to high-speed bursts in pursuit of prey.

The Orcinus Orca, popularly known as a killer whale or an orca, is a toothed member of the marine dolphin family, Delphinidae. It is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family.

When it comes to great white sharks and orcas, a battle to the end is not just black and white. The great white shark is the most voracious apex predator in temperate marine ecosystems across the globe, playing a pivotal role in controlling system dynamics.

Did you know that the maximum length for a great white is 6.4 meters, and for the orca, it is 9.6 meters? In addition, the maximum weight for the great white is 2,268 kg, and for the orca, 9,000 kg. Finally, regarding burst swim speed, great whites come in at 45km/h and the orca at 48km/h.

An orca’s diet is often based on the geography of its territory. These mammals use highly specialized hunting strategies to target the liver of sharks. The population of orcas in South African waters has been shown to target smaller shark species.

Shark livers are large, accounting for over 5% of a shark’s body weight. They are rich in oil, with squalene the chief component. Squalene is an energy store and a source of buoyancy for sharks that lack the swim bladder found in teleosts, i.e., bony fish.

It is difficult to imagine a great white as prey. And yet, earlier this year, the carcasses of great white sharks washed ashore along South Africa’s Western Cape province. Ranging in size from 2.7 meters (9 ft) to 4.9 meters (16 ft), the females and a few males had one thing in common. 

When about 20 shark carcasses washed up outside a Cape Town, South Africa home, the resident immediately knew who or what had killed them. The marine predators were found with missing livers. 

The two orcas have been extracting livers from great white sharks for over seven years. They were named Port and Starboard. Both have distinctive flopped-over dorsal fins that make it easy to identify them. 

There is years of data showing Gansbaai as a hotbed of activity for great whites, with an average of nine sharks spotted daily between 2008 and 2011. The two orcas disturbing this great white shark territory were males.

After the orcas moved into the territory, the carcasses of sharks increased while the sightings of live ones significantly reduced. According to one resident’s statement who found some washed-up sharks, “The more the orcas frequent these sites, the longer the great white sharks stay away.”

Although the team did not precisely witness the predation, they often saw the terrible twosome, the floppy-finned Port and Starboard. An intriguing crease in the study showed that bronze whaler sharks, another specie of large sharks, started moving in as the great whites moved out.

A nagging question researchers try to answer is why killer whales like Port and Starboard suddenly start preying on great whites. The team suggested several reasons, including a decline in prey availability that may have altered the ranges of killer whales and sharks, bringing them closer together on the food chain heirarchy

The researchers suggest that fishing and further fishery-induced declines in prey could be responsible for the declining numbers of great whites in Gansbaai. Habitual fishing in a specific area without proper regulations can reduce natural prey availability.

One shark biologist stated that unregulated fishing threatens shark populations more significantly than Port and Starboard. The predators only added pressure to fishes already in trouble.

Besides humiliating the revered bronze whale sharks and killer sharks, Orcas have found a new enemy, humans. According to vigilant watchers like Alfredo Fernandez, a biologist from Portugal’s University of Aveiro, hostilities began sometime around the year 2020. 

In retaliation, White Gladis is believed to have initiated the new waves of hostility against boats and other vessels. From nowhere, in at least three instances, these vessels get struck from beneath, and begin to sink afterward. 

Orcas love to imitate behaviors. Both good and bad. That’s due to their highly social character. The other aggressive orcas only had to watch White Gladis in action once or twice to pick up the anti-vessel behavior. 

While only a few of these aggressive encounters have led to the sinking of boats, they are by no means pleasant. A British couple who had been on the receiving end of the attack have described their frightening ordeal. 

The couple’s vessel had to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar to connect the Atlantic Ocean from the Mediterranean Sea. This passageway had been nicknamed the “orca alley” due to its high population of orcas.