Killer whales have been caught on camera ramming one of the world’s heaviest fish so hard it exploded. Scientists say the previously undescribed behavior by orcas in the Gulf of California may just be the apex ocean predators having ‘fun.’ Orcas, or killer whales, are known to be smart and ruthless hunters.
Observations
Study first author Kathryn Ayres said: ‘We document how one orca holds the sunfish and lets go just before another orca hits it at high speed, causing the tissue to break apart into thousands of pieces. We think this may help younger orcas feed more easily or it could also just be for fun. Orcas are known for playing with their food.’ Sunfish can grow over 3 meters long and weigh up to 2,000 kilograms.
The current observations, published in the journal Frontiers in Ethology, are based on two independent hunting events that occurred a little more than one year apart. In July 2024, Ayres observed how a group of orcas, including a juvenile, interacted with a dead sharp-tail sunfish, which they had killed previously.
A female orca held the sunfish by its large tail fin — an effective point of grip — while a male orca accelerated and swam toward both. Shortly before impact, the female released the sunfish. Ayres, of Beneath The Waves — a nonprofit organization promoting ocean health based in Boston, said the ramming caused the sunfish’s tissue to fragment and float in the water.
Feeding Behavior
The juvenile of the group then began consuming smaller bits of sunfish. The adults fed on what remained of the body, but didn’t consume the smaller fragments. In September 2025, a similar event, filmed by Héctor Franz, followed the same hold-to-ram and feeding behavior.
Ayres said: ‘The high-impact ramming behavior caused substantial disintegration of prey tissue. Ramming has not been previously described as a predation strategy by orcas. Both events suggest that the orcas followed a coordinated and cooperative strategy, with one orca stabilizing the carcass so the other could hit it more precisely.’ The sunfish were already deceased in both events, so the ramming is thought to be a processing technique rather than a means to deliver a killing blow.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
