KILLER WHALE (Orcinus orca): Eastern North Pacific Northern Resident

Killer whales have been observed in all oceans and seas of the world (Leatherwood and Dahlheim 1978). Although reported from tropical and offshore waters, killer whales prefer the colder waters of both hemispheres, with greatest abundances found within 800 km of major continents (Mitchell 1975). In...

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Main Authors: Stock Definition, Geographic Range
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
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Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.294.6651
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/sars/ak1998whki-pennr.pdf
Description
Summary:Killer whales have been observed in all oceans and seas of the world (Leatherwood and Dahlheim 1978). Although reported from tropical and offshore waters, killer whales prefer the colder waters of both hemispheres, with greatest abundances found within 800 km of major continents (Mitchell 1975). In Alaska waters, killer whales occur along the entire Alaska coast from the Chukchi Sea, into the Bering Sea, along the Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska, and into Southeast Alaska (Braham and Dahlheim 1982). Their occurrence has been well documented throughout British Columbia and the inland waterways of Washington State (Bigg et al. 1990), as well as along the outer