In the cold waters off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, a remarkable study unfolds. Orca move. Dolphins follow.

almost tea
killer whales and salmon
meet in deep currents

Scientists from Dalhousie University, the University of British Columbia, the Hakai Institute, and the Leibniz Institute work aboard the research vessel Steller Quest. They record and observe. They witness resident northern killer whales and Pacific white‑sided dolphins hunting salmon side by side.

The Science of Observation

deep dives
suction‑cup tags
cling to orca bodies

Acoustic recordings echo through the water. Video sensors track movement. Orca dive sixty metres into dark rocks and crevasses. The chinook salmon scatter. Blood, scales, and fragments. The orca tear the fish apart. Pod members share their prey. Dolphins circle, scavenge and consume leftovers.

Twenty‑five course changes. Eight hunts and catches. Eight sharings of chinook salmon. The dolphins scout the salmon. Orca listen for echolocation pings. Biting down hard. This alliance exists.

Cooperation or Coincidence?

The scientists hesitate. They resist anthropomorphising. Are these animals friends? Opportunists? Pesky critters stealing fish? Participants in a foraging relationship? Dolphins exert time and energy diving deep, chasing salmon. Orca provide predator protection. The orca take the salmon and leave scraps. The dolphins gain food and the orca conserve energy. Both benefit.

These behaviours are unexpected. The recordings of these animals working together is a first. The study continues. There is so much more to learn.

Wider Waters

diplomacy
dolphins around the world
form super pods

Thousands gather off California. In the Iberian Peninsula, sailboats are rammed by whales and sink. Porpoises harass people. Seaweed exfoliates. Intelligence surfaces. Social lives expand. Unique behaviours emerge. So it is and as it is, with humans too. Can you feel it?

Here, in British Columbia, Canada, this cross species alliance feels real. Orca and dolphin united in the pursuit, killing and eating of salmon.

Myth and Meaning

The human gaze becomes mythic. Orca dampen noises and listen.

dolphins scout
and flush out salmon
radar kicks in

Us humans must seem strange to these sea mammals. Stranger even than mermaids, mermen and siren.

Poseidon
god of sea earthquakes
and horses

Nereus, the “Old Man of the Sea,” wise and prophetic. And then the Nereids. Fifty sea nymph daughters of Nereus so kind and helpful to sailors. Triton, messenger of the sea, son of Poseidon with his conch shell.

Ceto and Phorcys
sea deities giving birth
to monsters

Paul Conneally
December 11th 2025

Photograph: The Amber Rooms, Loughborough, UK