Port and Starboard are the names of two infamous killer whales (orcas) that swim off the coast of South Africa. Their names come from their rare collapsed dorsal fins: Port’s bends to the left and Starboard’s bends to the right. The pair went on a killing spree last week, attacking and killing at least 17 broadnose sevengill sharks in a single day (February 24, 2023). The whales ate only the sharks’ livers and left their bodies to wash up on the beach.
This pair of male killer whales gained notoriety in 2015, when scuba divers found several broadnose sevengill sharks dead. Eventually, researchers fingered killer whales Port and Starboard in the deaths. Then, in 2017 and 2019, great white sharks were washing up on the coast with just their livers eaten out of their bodies. By 2020, the formerly hundreds of great white sharks in South Africa’s False Bay had nearly all moved out of the area. But, as proved last week at Pearly Beach, two hours east of False Bay, Port and Starboard are still at it.
Alison Kock, a marine biologist in Cape Town, South Africa, shared the news on Twitter.
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