Oct 13, 2026 |
BCSS researchers sighted ten orcas in the Bazaruto Archipelago, a rare encounter in the tropical waters of the southwest Indian Ocean.
According to the Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies (BCSS), the group of orcas was found during a scientific expedition in the waters of the archipelago. At the start of the outing, the humpback whales present in the area were unusually quiet and showed almost no surface activity, which the team acknowledges may have been related to the presence of the orcas, although it is not known whether the whales were prey for this group.
The research centre stresses that, although orcas occur in every ocean, little is known about those living in the tropical waters of the Western Indian Ocean, where encounters remain rare and unpredictable.
The photographs taken in Bazaruto will form part of the first photo-identification catalogue of orcas in the tropical southwest Indian Ocean, which is being prepared by researcher Maeva Terrapon, a BCSS collaborator. The catalogue will bring together records from across the region, including data collected in Tanzania by researcher Aylin Akkaya, of the organisation DMAD.
The record adds to the data series that the BCSS ocean observatory, on Benguerra Island, has maintained since 2017 and which include photo-identification of humpback whales and underwater acoustic recordings, now available in open access, as KAMBAKU reported..
Further south, the Oceanographic Institute of Mozambique and the Wildlife Conservation Society have been monitoring sharks and rays on the coast of Gaza, a region recognised as critical both for large migratory species such as the great white shark and for rare and threatened species, according to WCS Mozambique.
Photo: BCSS
