Orca Swallows the Liver and Leaves the Body of an Over 8-Meter Long Shark Sinking to the Ocean Floor off the Coast of Mexico.
Orca eating the liver of a whale shark. (Video: Ocean Safaris).
An orca tore open the belly of a whale shark and consumed its liver off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, according to a report by Live Science on July 28. The rare footage reveals the orca swimming upside down beneath the whale shark and biting into its belly, causing blood to spurt from the wound. After finishing its meal, the orca lunged to the surface while the lifeless body of the whale shark sank below.
The video was filmed by James Moskito, the CEO of the ocean tour company Ocean Safaris in California, during an expedition to the Gulf of California in April. He noticed the whale shark and approached it. When he was about 1.8 meters from the surface, Moskito saw the orca lunging towards the whale shark and realized they were going to attack its underbelly.
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest shark species on Earth, growing up to 18 meters long. Healthy adult individuals have very few natural predators, while injured ones can sometimes fall prey to tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) and orcas (Orcinus orca).
Orca consumes the liver and leaves the prey motionless sinking down.
While orcas have previously been recorded attacking juvenile whale sharks, Moskito’s footage is the first of its kind showing the predatory behavior on an estimated 8.2-meter-long adult. He noted that the attack lasted only a few seconds. The orca consumed the liver and left the prey motionless as it sank.
Shortly after the encounter, Moskito and passengers on the boat witnessed another orca attacking and killing a different whale shark. When they arrived, the whale shark was struggling at the surface with an orca clinging to it. Moskito reported that a large adult orca named Montezuma was involved in both attacks.
The liver of a shark is very nutrient-rich, filled with oil and fat. Orcas around the world have been consuming shark livers for decades. According to Alison Kock, a marine biologist at South African National Parks, the liver of sharks is large and buoyant, causing it to float on the surface when the shark is killed, making it easier for orcas to detect and approach compared to other body parts that may sink to the ocean floor and be harder to find.
