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The orca (Orcinus orca), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the only extant species in the genus Orcinus and is recognizable by its black-and-white patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, it is found in diverse marine environments, from Arctic to Antarctic regions to tropical seas.
Type A or Antarctic orcas look like a "typical" orca, a large, black-and-white form with a medium-sized white eye patch, living in open water and feeding mostly on minke whales. [2] [4] Type B1 or pack ice orcas are smaller than type A. [4] It has a large white eye patch.
Orca hunting a Weddell seal. The orca is known to prey on numerous other toothed whale species. One example is the false killer whale. [69] To subdue and kill whales, orcas continually ram them with their heads; this can sometimes kill bowhead whales, or severely injure them. Other times, they corral their prey before striking.
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Like the modern killer whale, the snout is broad and relatively short, and the eye socket is relatively small. [3] It had 28 conical teeth in either jaw, unlike the modern killer whale which has, on average, 24. [1] The holotype could have been 4 m (13 ft) long, [3] in contrast to the 7 to 10 m (23 to 33 ft) modern killer whale. [8]
The genus Orcinus was published by Leopold Fitzinger in 1860, [4] its type species is the orca named by Linnaeus in 1758 as Delphinus orca.Taxonomic arrangements of delphinids published by workers before and after Fitzinger, such as John Edward Gray as Orca in 1846 and Orca (Gladiator) in 1870, are recognized as synonyms of Orcinus.
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