Orca rams a Sunfish

[u/Huge_Stay9921]

[u/Big_Gassy_Possum]

It exploded into a meat cloud

[u/Forsaken_Total976 → u/Big_Gassy_Possum]

Pretty fucking cool of them to not eat us like that every time.

[u/KamikazeFox_ → u/Forsaken_Total976]

If you compliment them enough, they will leave you alone. " Oh hello, beautiful, aren't you lovely"

Orcas love compliments

[u/Ol-BR → u/KamikazeFox_]

I thought Orcas loved pepper…

[u/ValiumKilmer → u/Ol-BR]

Correct. They hate cinnamon

[u/PuffyMagoo → u/ValiumKilmer]

Oh no. That explains a lot.

[u/Old-Acanthisitta-949 → u/Ol-BR]

That's Doctors.

[u/Huge_Stay9921 → u/KamikazeFox_]

Tell that to the last Penguin that gave them a compliment

[u/Starsky71 → u/Huge_Stay9921]

Never happens, penguins are mad shit talkers and it gets em into hot water around orcas!

[u/Michami135 → u/KamikazeFox_]

Just make sure you learn proper Orcish. "Oooreerah" and "Oooweewah" sound way too similar, and trust me, you don't want to say the wrong one.

[u/raban0815 → u/Forsaken_Total976]

They don't eat the sunfish either, they taste really bad and have barely any meat.

[u/patchinthebox → u/raban0815]

I'm Johnny Orca and welcome to Jackass.

[u/BookieeWookiee → u/patchinthebox]

They're practicing their rammings for yachting season

[u/desertSkateRatt → u/BookieeWookiee]

Donald Glover gif: GOOD

[u/patosai3211 → u/patchinthebox]

I can hear the theme song. now I’m picturing random orca videos set to it.

[u/NoLie129 → u/patosai3211]

They came in like a wrecking ball…

[u/No-Cover4993 → u/raban0815]

It's the ocean, something will eat it. It might be crabs and isopods, but something will happily eat it.

[u/Wintervacht → u/No-Cover4993]

Apparently the Sunfish's best defense and survival strategy is birhting 200,000 young at once and being the most disgusting thing to eat that isn't straight up poisonous.

They have zero survival instincts and are often seen with a few bites taken out of them by seals, who didn't come back for seconds.

[u/mrjowei → u/Wintervacht]

They’re the stale bread of fishes

[u/Rope_slingin_champ → u/mrjowei]

Im in the office just cracking up at this comment

[u/Perfect_Caregiver_90 → u/Rope_slingin_champ]

I've heard them described as the saltine cracker of the ocean by marine biologists.

Yeah, some things will nibble them but only out of boredom or necessity. Just like people with saltine crackers.

[u/cheeseygarlicbread → u/Perfect_Caregiver_90]

Saltine crackers are pretty good with chili

[u/Kichae → u/cheeseygarlicbread]

With soup. With stew. With red pepper jelly. With peanut butter.

Really not sure where the soda cracker hate's coming from. Shit's delicious.

[u/too1onjj → u/cheeseygarlicbread]

Instructions unclear. Currently eating sunfish chili with crackers

[u/Solastor → u/Wintervacht]

Sunfish get a bad wrap in popular pseudo-science talking spaces, but they actually have a lot more going for them.

People who don't know better have spread the myth that they are slow and don't give a fuck based on how they behave when they are up near the surface sunning (hence Sunfish) which is when they are at their most lethargic, but when they are active and not napping they are actually quicker than people expect.

They also are eaten by Sealions, Sharks, and Orcas and aren't "super disgusting" as people think. They are just FUCKING huge. They are the among the largest bony fish and have incredibly thick skin. Small predators can't even get bites off of them. The reason you'll see them with bites occasionally isn't because the seal bit them and spit it out or anything. It's because those are the ones that got a bite taken out of them and got away. (ETA - To explain the get away - A seal will be much faster and more maneuverable than a sunfish, but you can think of their thick skin similar to how lizards drop their tales. It's a purposefully sacrificial thing that they can use to assuage a predator while protecting their more vital bits and then they can scoot away while the predator is monching on their skin bits)

They're also considered a delicacy in some parts of the world. The idea that they are disgusting is a myth spread by people who've seen videos of ones with bites taken out of them. It's not that they are gross - it's that they have such thick skin that they aren't worth trying to get through for most animals. They are noted for having a "mild, slightly sweet" flavor.

[u/Oostylin → u/Solastor]

Found the Sunfish

[u/Solastor → u/Oostylin]

Oh fuck. I've been caught! Good thing I'm actually quick and can get away!

[u/defk3000 → u/Solastor]

Pssp It's better to say you're disgusting or the humans will eat you!

[u/One-Earth9294 → u/defk3000]

You'll never escape the Japanese if you're delicious and live in the ocean. No one swims that fast.

[u/whisky_biscuit → u/Solastor]

Not before I take a bite of you!

[u/Solastor → u/whisky_biscuit]

Aim for my stubborn tummy fat!

[u/Scotter1969 → u/Oostylin]

Big Sunfish doing PR, controlling the narrative.

[u/p3ndu1um → u/Solastor]

What made me love the sunfish was a story from 2024/5. There was a sunfish in an aquarium in Japan that became lethargic and stopped eating after they closed to the public for renovations. The staff thought maybe he was depressed bc he was now lonely so they put up a bunch of cardboard cutouts of people around his tank. Afterwards he started swimming and eating again. They’re a naturally curious species and will swim up to the front of tanks to look at people. Very gentle and curious souls.

[u/OmecronPerseiHate → u/Solastor]

It's funny that you posted this on a video in which two orcas have zero interest in eating a sunfish and just straight up torpedo it.

[u/goddamnitwhalen → u/OmecronPerseiHate]

They’re gorgeous creatures who are 100% smart enough to be massive dicks.

[u/Megalicious15 → u/Solastor]

Can confirm. I saw my first one from a cruise ship balcony and flipped out at how huge whatever I was seeing was! 😆

[u/PadloPerejuarez → u/Wintervacht]

Not 200,000 but up to 300,000,000.

[u/No-Cover4993 → u/Wintervacht]

The sunfish information is kind of from a Reddit meme post with a lot of embellishment for humor and focuses on "negative" traits. I think there's one about koalas too.

Suggesting an animal has "zero survival instincts" is entirely backwards and disregards a lot of the success this species has achieved by surviving to modern day. They aren't just floating there like giant fish balloons for thousands of generations.

[u/Excellent-Ad-2774 → u/No-Cover4993]

Parasites sunfish are full of them and they eventually cause a slow death for it

[u/Mcbadguy → u/Excellent-Ad-2774]

Existence is suffering for a sunfish

[u/FeelingSurprise → u/Mcbadguy]

So it's just like me?

[u/SurayaThrowaway12 → u/raban0815]

Orcas really like eating sunfish intestines, likely due to the high water content.

[u/Metazolid → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

Orcas eating organs for water sounds like a spongebob gag.

[u/UpperApe → u/raban0815]

I love that further down is a sourced and well-explained comment talking about why orcas do eat sunfish and target them specifically.

But 500 people upvoted this witless one-liner instead lol

[u/Forsaken_Total976 → u/raban0815]

It could be over in a minute then…

[u/Chor_the_Druid → u/raban0815]

But the video literally shows them eating it?

[u/Cicada_Soft_Official → u/Chor_the_Druid]

They definitely eat them. Dude is just repeating "Reddit wisdom."

[u/PurpIeSus → u/Forsaken_Total976]

They only eat what they’ve been taught to eat by their parents. So luckily we’re off the menu

[u/Baked_Potato_732 → u/PurpIeSus]

Strangely moose are on the menu.

[u/SurayaThrowaway12 → u/Baked_Potato_732]

TBH there has only been a single documented instance back in 1992 involving what was likely mammal-eating Bigg's (transient) orcas killing a moose in Icy Strait, Southeastern Alaska. It is not clear how much of the moose the orcas involved in the encounter actually consumed, as the account of the encounter from the fishermen who witnessed seems to be very brief. There are a few known instances of orcas hunting deer.

It is indeed possible that more "experimentative" juvenile mammal-eating orcas, perhaps without the guidance of their mothers, tried to prey on the moose. But such instances are still fairly rare, as according to long-time whale researcher Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, orcas are "capable of learning practically anything by example, but not prone to experimenting or innovating."

Humans do not closely resemble any of the species that are part typical diet of mammal-eating orcas. We are just very odd-looking compared to marine mammals and even terrestrial mammals such as deer and moose. In addition, even though attacks on moose are very rare, Bigg's orcas off of Alaska have been seeing moose and deer in their waters for far longer than humans have been in their waters. So even a more "experimental" individual would not see humans as closely resembling their familiar prey.

[u/OscarDivine → u/Forsaken_Total976]

Makes you wonder if there are just no reported attacks because there are just never any survivors.

[u/RiotX79 → u/OscarDivine]

Not eating people, but lots of reports from straight of Gibraltar area of a pod attacking and disabling several yachts. Apparently, the orcas also "speak" their own language unlike any other pod.

[u/OscarDivine → u/RiotX79]

Eating the rich …. Almost

[u/Weights_In_Fish → u/Big_Gassy_Possum]

And then danced in its remains.

[u/zackmophobes → u/Big_Gassy_Possum]

Sea-Pinata!

[u/ToeComfortable115 → u/zackmophobes]

That’s probably exactly what they think of sunfish. Meanwhile the sunfish is probably still alive and floating around with half its body

[u/Paladin7373 → u/ToeComfortable115]

Crazy how sunfish can survive like that

[u/MillorTime → u/Big_Gassy_Possum]

To shreds, you say?

[u/woodbanger04 → u/MillorTime]

Well how is his wife holding up?

[u/MillorTime → u/woodbanger04]

To shreds, you say?

[u/Emanualblast → u/MillorTime]

Say, was their apartment rent comtrolled?

[u/DethNik → u/Emanualblast]

Lol as if rent control would exist in NYC in the year 3000.

[u/BookieeWookiee → u/DethNik]

Everybody gets assigned a job so it's not far off to think there could be assigned housing sections too

[u/Emanualblast → u/BookieeWookiee]

You know what dey say. You gotta live where you gotta live

[u/SurayaThrowaway12 → u/Big_Gassy_Possum]

The orcas here may have already started to tear apart the sunfish beforehand and removed some of its organs (e.g. the intestines, which they often target in sunfishes), which would have made it fairly "structurally compromised" already before the other orca rammed into it, explaining why it exploded like that.

[u/harshdave → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

forbidden spaghetti

[u/valcallis → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

Kinda looks like the other was holding it

[u/EconomySeason2416 → u/Big_Gassy_Possum]

Mr. Torgue would be proud

[u/DigIndividual3467 → u/EconomySeason2416]

EXPLOSIONS???!!!!!

[u/Fivebag → u/Big_Gassy_Possum]

Ocean piñata

[u/Lunarmoan]

It looked like he stunned himself with that spear

[u/ConnectRutabaga3925 → u/Lunarmoan]

goldberg speared him!

[u/MoiraBrownsMoleRats → u/ConnectRutabaga3925]

GORE!!! GORE!!! GORE!!!

[u/Closersolid → u/ConnectRutabaga3925]

Bret Hart did not appreciate this

[u/redwoodranger → u/Lunarmoan]

I don't think he's stunned, but I do think he's mastered the stop and instant reversal move.

[u/goldenfoxengraving → u/redwoodranger]

I think you're right, orcas have incredible agility for their size. To me it just looks like the equivalent of an ice hockey player doing a side grind move to stop and turn to look at it. There was someone talking about a blood cloud saying it came from the orca but that's almost certainly from the large lump of sunfish that was left floating deeper down.

[u/RiptideEberron → u/redwoodranger]

Reoriented it's body for sunfish snacks.

[u/Creepy-Astronaut-952 → u/Lunarmoan]

CTE!!!

[u/maggiemayfish → u/Creepy-Astronaut-952]

Cetaceous Traumatic Encephalopathy

[u/gentlemantroglodyte]

Orcas: nature's other psychopaths

[u/DrinkYourWater69 → u/gentlemantroglodyte]

Dolphins are natures top sociopath and Orcas are just scaled up more creative members of the dolphin family.

[u/JaredKushners_umRag → u/DrinkYourWater69]

If dolphins are wasps orcas are hornets lol

[u/Proud_Conversation_3 → u/JaredKushners_umRag]

I play too much arc raiders

[u/bonobomaster → u/DrinkYourWater69]

Humans are natures top sociopath by far, far, far, far, far...

While Dolphins are drug consuming rapists, they at least have no concentration camps, no nuclear bombs, no billionaires, no pollution etc.

[u/MongolianCluster → u/bonobomaster]

They would if they could.

[u/mrniceguy777 → u/MongolianCluster]

Lol ya people always like to cite smart animals as being more like morally superior to us, as if monkeys wouldn't immediately shoot people if you give them a machine gun.

[u/xLambadix → u/mrniceguy777]

Did you see the matrix movie? The scene where the agent explains to Morpheus how only humans don't live in harmony with their environment. Other animals would never exploit nature according to him.
That always baffled me - it's complete nonsense! The only reason why an animal won't exploit all natural resources is because something else is keeping it in check. In other words: They are just weak af :D

[u/Rage187_OG → u/xLambadix]

Turtles on skateboards. They turn into fast attack jerks.

[u/mrniceguy777 → u/xLambadix]

Ya the whole argument falls apart when you learn that animals have gone extinct from other animals.

[u/onanoc → u/mrniceguy777]

I just had this argument today.

It's like: human bad, nature good.

But mostly everything humans do wrong, has been done before by other animals. It'S tHeiR nAtuRe! Yeah, like, we don't have a nature or something.

[u/heavy_jowles → u/mrniceguy777]

If a chimp could use an automatic rifle it ABSOLUTELY would.

People hem and haw over how terrible humans are, cuz we are, but there are other animals that are far worse. If chimps had the intelligence we had they’d be far far worse as overlords. They’re terrifying.

[u/Significant-Song-840 → u/mrniceguy777]

Or throw poop

[u/DethNik → u/Significant-Song-840]

A poop machine gun you say... 🤔

[u/doyletyree → u/MongolianCluster]

So Long, and thanks for all the Sex

[u/semaj_2026 → u/MongolianCluster]

Came here to say this. If there was an Atlantis uprising to take out the “ground people”, they would be the first.

And let’s not forget the penguin raping Seals

[u/Rekuna → u/bonobomaster]

The Ocean is their Concentration Camp.

[u/Mean-Bathroom-6112 → u/gentlemantroglodyte]

They’re just apex hunters

[u/Beautiful_Nobody_344 → u/Mean-Bathroom-6112]

Nah did you see the way the one orca swam in delight through the meat debris.

[u/SurayaThrowaway12]

Various orcas likely target sunfishes (molids), particularly their intestines, for their high water content.

Essentially, sunfishes are the equivalent of juicy, refreshing watermelons to orcas. Orcas can eat sunfish entrails and metabolize them into a drink. The flesh and other internal organs of molids also have high water content, but the intestines are long and occupy much of the molid's abdominal cavity, so they are removed first. It is also likely that molid flesh and entrails have significant nutritional value to orcas, though there doesn't seem to be existing data supporting this.

The pod of orcas in the video are Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) orcas seen off of Baja California Sur in Mexico.

ETP orcas may have quite generalist diets consisting of but not limited to sharks, rays, sea turtles, other dolphins, fin fishes, and larger whales. However, there may ultimately be multiple "ecotypes" of ETP orcas which may specialize in or prefer hunting different types of prey species. Certain pods also may specialize in hunting sharks, while others may specialize in hunting dolphins, for example.

Original video filmed by Héctor Franz (creaturesofbaja) on Baja Pelágica expeditions.

[u/AwwYeahVTECKickedIn → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

The wild reality that Orcas are essentially hunting drinks while literally living in water.

Nature is lit!

[u/AmericanSpaceRanger → u/AwwYeahVTECKickedIn]

Orcas get most of their water from their food which provides metabolic water, but they also possess specialized kidneys to process saltwater if they ingest it, allowing them to survive in the marine environment without needing to drink freshwater.

[u/hudson27 → u/AmericanSpaceRanger]

Wait.. do ALL mammals living in the ocean need to drink freshwater in one form or another? I never thought about it but it makes sense

[u/scikit-learns → u/hudson27]

All animals need " fresh water" to a certain extent. They are just evolved to process the salt content into something usable for their organs.

Salt water is toxic to most animals cause it pulls water out of cells.

[u/AndroidAtWork → u/hudson27]

They get it from other metabolic processes, like breaking down fats. The metabolic process will break the fats into different kinds of molecules, including water.

My biochemistry professor in college was very emphatic about this. "Polar bears cannot drink water because they don't have sinks." And then explained the biochemistry going on behind the lack of sinks to drink water from.

[u/NH4NO3 → u/AndroidAtWork]

idk how literal they meant by that, but polar bears can totally drink water, and the arctic does have 'sinks' probably more than most any other place in the form of melt ponds that form on the surface of ice floes during the summer.

[u/AndroidAtWork → u/NH4NO3]

I mean, obviously they can drink water. He just pointed out that even when water wasn't fully available, there was a metabolic source that they've evolved.

[u/PlaquePlague → u/AmericanSpaceRanger]

If you sprayed freshwater into their mouths would they like it?

[u/shwhjw → u/PlaquePlague]

I feel like I saw that in Free Willy and the answer is yes.

[u/wabiguan → u/AwwYeahVTECKickedIn]

if an Orca calls you a tall drink of water, don’t be flattered, you’re about to be splattered.

[u/FuckMyHeart → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

What a couple of dummies, they're surrounded by water! ^/s

[u/cubinox → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

But why explode it into smithereens?

Doesn’t that make it harder to get all those juicy bits?

Isn’t nature all about minimizing effort and maximizing intake?

I know orcas do seemingly devious shit by natures standards because it’s “fun” but man, so many questions.

[u/SurayaThrowaway12 → u/cubinox]

The orcas here may have already started to tear apart the sunfish beforehand and removed some of its desirable organs (e.g. the intestines, which they often target in sunfishes), which would have made it fairly "structurally compromised" already before the other orca rammed into it.

The orca that rammed into the sunfish appears to be a juvenile/subadult, so it may have just been playing.

[u/youneedananswer → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

So basically the orca version of stepping on your capri-sun

[u/theLuminescentlion → u/SurayaThrowaway12]

Different orca pods in different areas eat completely different diets too and have different cultural norms around it.

[u/catsumoto]

To shreds, you say?

[u/2nd2lastdodo → u/catsumoto]

How is his wife?

[u/HateToBlastYa → u/2nd2lastdodo]

To shreds, you say?

[u/Soulless--Plague → u/HateToBlastYa]

If anyone needs me I’ll be in the angry dome!

[u/SkywolfNINE → u/catsumoto]

Hey, I call them like I see them. Whale biologist.

[u/BoomBoomMeow1986 → u/catsumoto]

Dammit, I wanted to eat that sunfish!

(Retreats to the Angry Dome)

[u/ThePensiveE]

They didn't earn the name Killer Whales for being cute and cuddly.

[u/HairySalmon → u/ThePensiveE]

Or even by being whales

[u/Oobedoob_S_Benubi → u/HairySalmon]

That's because "killer whale" comes from "whale killer"

[u/soccerpuma03 → u/ThePensiveE]

The name was originally "whale killers"

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Why-Are-Orcas-Called-Killer-Whalesq

[u/NWJMY838]

Brutally efficient

[u/Any-Literature5546]

Did anyone actually see the sunfish? All I saw was one two then three orcas. I need to get my eyes checked. Was the sunfish the cloud? I could not see the alleged ramming

[u/PiersPlays → u/Any-Literature5546]

At the beginning one of the orcas appears to be holding the sunfish in it's mouth until the other one rams through and destroys it.

[u/Sickofchildren → u/PiersPlays]

They’re seriously doing fucking trick shots with each other for fun, while killing a sunfish lmao

[u/ASouthernDandy]

Sunfish are basically floating dinner plates. They can get to over 2 tonnes, eat a ton of jellyfish, and spend ages just “sunbathing” at the surface to warm up and let birds pick parasites off them.

Ann Widdecombe has a similar warm-up routine before one of her documentaries attacking people in hoodies: https://youtu.be/dKwaEBW3yfw

[u/kaielias → u/ASouthernDandy]

Yea they have like no meat

[u/P0werFighter → u/kaielias]

But juicy intestines.

[u/1Northward_Bound → u/P0werFighter]

very juicy apparently

[u/chocolateboomslang → u/kaielias]

Almost no muscle, still a LOT of protein. Animals eat the whole body. Cartilage, membranes, guts, all on the menu.

[u/laziestathlete → u/kaielias]

And apparently don’t taste good

[u/SignoreBanana → u/ASouthernDandy]

2 tons?!

Edit: just looked it up and apparently the largest ever caught was over 6000 lbs.

[u/DrRichardShaftPhD → u/ASouthernDandy]

let birds pick parasites off them.

They are probably the most parasitized fish there is. If you ever get a chance to see or handle one up close, they are fucking gross, absolutely riddled with all manner of parasites and open wounds from birds digging them out and stuff taking bites out of them.

[u/ExtraEmuForYou]

Why do orcas always seem like they're being jerks?

I know they have to eat, but they could just chomp on that fish. Do they really need to explode it and then swim in the entrails?

[u/Chandler15 → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

Orcas are notoriously sadistic. If “playing with your food” were an animal, it’d be an orca.

[u/idkwhatimbrewin → u/Chandler15]

We are so lucky they do not eat humans for some reason

[u/Cephalopirate → u/idkwhatimbrewin]

Game recognizes game.

[u/SurayaThrowaway12 → u/Cephalopirate]

I have seen this phrase posted quite a few times regarding orca-human interactions, and it actually may be fairly accurate.

A fairly well-established hypothesis is that orcas, as highly cultural animals that are usually very selective and conservative predators, don't see humans as being potential prey in the first place. They learn what to eat from their mothers and other podmates. Fish-eating resident orcas won't eat mammals, even when malnourished.

However, just because orcas don't see an animal as being potential prey does not necessarily mean they are averse to harming or killing such animals for other reasons.

So, another reason why wild orcas are not interested in harming humans may be due to them having theory of mind.

Here is what whale researcher Jared Towards and neuroscientist Dr. Lori Marino have to say, taken from an article on the phenomenon of wild orcas sharing food with humans:

"They’re taking something they do amongst themselves and spreading that goodwill to another species," says Lori Marino at New York University, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Towers says this demonstrates that orcas are capable of generalised altruism, or kindness. It also shows that orcas can recognise sentience in others and are curious and bold enough to experiment across species, he says.

...

He also says the behaviour demonstrates that orcas have theory of mind, the ability to understand that others have distinct mental states that differ from one’s own.

As is also stated by Towers:

"There’s not many other wild creatures out there with enough intellect, resources or guts to test us like this which suggests some convergent evolution between our kinds and highlights that next level respect should be exercised in the ways we interact with them."

Having theory of mind doesn't guarantee an orca won't harm a human; after all, humans have theory of mind, but still can do horrible things to other people. But it would mean that orcas see humans as being quite different from their prey and other animals. They may recognize that humans also have our own different perspectives and that we also may also be another highly social and intelligent lifeform. Also, unlike other sea creatures, humans may represent a realm (dry land) which orcas do not have access to, so perhaps this could make them more curious and perhaps cautious around people.

There have been extensive historic relationships between humans and orcas, the most famous of which was Old Tom's pod forming a cooperative relationship with whalers in Eden, Australia. Both Aboriginal and western whalers cooperated with these orcas in Twofold Bay, New South Wales. The orcas would alert the whalers to the presence of baleen whales in the area by breaching or tailslapping near the cottages of the Davidson family. The orcas would also often assist in the hunt itself. After a whale was harpooned, some orcas would even grab the ropes with their teeth to assist the human whalers in hauling.

[u/Superdupernadja → u/Cephalopirate]

we used to hunt together with them. It more like we are old bros. They most likely still know this, since its only 150 years ago give or take, and they have long lifespans, and language, and share tales inbetween generations.

If you want to know more about this google law of tongue

[u/FaultedSidewalk → u/idkwhatimbrewin]

It's not "some reason", we know the reason, we did a number on the collective whale psyche during the height of the Whaling industry and whales are known to pass down information between generations. They know not to fuck with us weird seals because we can and will kill them in their homes. Sperm whales completely changed their birth/child rearing practices in response to human pressure from whaling, and we still see them practice this today after the practice of whaling has been mostly eliminated. If one of these pods started actually hunting and killing people, it'd be a death knell for, at the very least, the entire pod, if not the whole species.

[u/SonicSubculture → u/FaultedSidewalk]

What if it's just confirmation bias... any time they HAVE attacked humans... they leave no witnesses.

[u/12InchCunt → u/FaultedSidewalk]

I like the sci fi idea of them having genetic memories so it’s not just legends of the weird water monkeys it’s actual memories

[u/brennanr10 → u/12InchCunt]

Genetic memory isn’t sci fi it’s real brother. They just proved it’s how birds know where to migrate to

[u/AnyBug1039 → u/brennanr10]

And why I'm scared of spiders in a country that has no poisonous spiders.

[u/Xchop2200 → u/FaultedSidewalk]

except our connection to orcas is way different in this regard

killer whale itself is a inversion of the original name: whale killer, and that's what they were, orcas hunt and kill whales, even very large ones

now that brings us to human whaling, which for the orcas wasn't some kind of dramatic irony where suddenly they were hunted, far from, instead orcas actively cooperated with whaling vessels leading them to whale pods where they benefited from the chaos of humans hunting whales to more easily hunt whales themselves

the death knell thing is less about fear being baked into them through whaling, and more that they recognize us as fellow apex predators and generally speaking apex predators don't willingly go after other apex predators because that's a shitshow

[u/thedifferentroad → u/idkwhatimbrewin]

actually, they are lucky. Sharks, Wolves, Bears etc got killed en masse for posing a (sometimes only imagined) threat to people. Would definitely be harder because the ocean is vast and Orcas are smart, but we are smarter and meaner

[u/popcornfart → u/Chandler15]

Maybe we should rename them.   "Killer whales" has a nice ring to it 

[u/CopingAdult → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

After all that I have read and seen about them, at this point, I'm pretty sure they are just bored and fucking around.

[u/ProtectionAdorable89 → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

I’d rather explode in an instant than get ripped apart piece by piece slowly

[u/stefanopolis → u/ProtectionAdorable89]

Yeah this only looks bad to us but that fish got insta-gibbed. Can’t think of a more humane death than that. Pretty nice of the orca considering the alternatives.

[u/bigpproggression → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

If it aint broke don’t fix it.

They are terrifying.  A lot of things are.  We are lucky to be human.

[u/godzillaburger → u/bigpproggression]

i mean, humans are terrifying too

[u/redperril91 → u/ExtraEmuForYou]

Sunfish have developed to have basically zero nutritional value in the uttermost parts of its body, its mostly just extra skin that tastes horrible. Its possible the orca wanted to get at its innards and bypass the disgusting outer parts. Google sunfish.

[u/Vantriss → u/redperril91]

I wish I could read the mind of the first orca to ram a sunfish. It was probably the most exciting thing they'd ever experienced. A fish exploding like a fucking piñata.

[u/CoolBlackSmith75]

Sunfish usually don't give a hoot about a few nibs and bites, but now there is nothing left to not give a hoot about

[u/BlazeCypher]

It looks like the other one is holding it like a place kicker.

[u/AllThingsBA]

The freshest sashimi

[u/godzillaburger]

vulgar display of power

[u/get_after_it_ → u/godzillaburger]

One must always upvote a Pantera reference

[u/Substantial_Meal_530]

What's inside a sunfish? Confetti?

[u/heels-and-the-hearse → u/Substantial_Meal_530]

Meat confetti

[u/PAUNCHS_PILOT → u/Substantial_Meal_530]

Looks like smithereens.

[u/TerraByteTerror]

Sunfish are the punching bags of the sea

[u/0dayssince]

Did the sunfish explode????

[u/Last_Low9649 → u/0dayssince]

Like a goddamn piñata into meat, organs and parasitic worms

[u/Syphilitic_Marmoset]

Damn thing exploded like the bird hit by a pitch. Jingus!

[u/bongwaterbetch]

Blew that mf to smithereens lmao

[u/ConquNoble]

A-train

[u/Steak_Knight]

It’s a baby fackin’ wheeeeel, Jay! I think it’s hurt, Jay! We gotta call the aquarium!

[u/defpat5 → u/Steak_Knight]

What tha fahk is that thing Jay?! Hole-lee shit Jay!

[u/Silvermane2]

Did I just witness the underwater equivalent of a deer getting hit by a semi?

[u/Santas_southpole]

Dude just gave himself a concussion spearing the most helpless animal in the ocean.

[u/mothman117]

Just be grateful they somehow haven't done this to every human they see.

[u/ImportantOption6830 → u/mothman117]

Wouldn't be surprised if they're fully aware on humans capacity to fuck them up

[u/sanderlima]

The Boys S1E1....

[u/roadwarrior721]

Leeeeeeeeeroy jennnnnnnkinnssssss

[u/TheQueefburglar69]

More like "obliterates"

[u/onlyonequickquestion]

Does this hurt the Sunfish? 

[u/Buildsoc → u/onlyonequickquestion]

No. It’s immediately out of pain forever

[u/Blackhawk_Talon]

Knowing sunfish that meat cloud still has bits that think it’s alive and well.

[u/JonnyXX]

Sure looked like they were working together on this. The one was buddying up and then bam!

[u/Ambitious-Site-4747]

They were basking in it... insane creatures

[u/downneast]

they are so fucking powerful. these things kill great white sharks for fun lol

[u/Eve_93]

Kyogre used Slam. It was super effective! Alomomola fainted...

[u/pgndu]

Guess they r just killing for fun,

[u/baksdad]

I used to think orcas were cool. Now I think they’re just assholes.

[u/neoslith]

Has anyone ever seen that clip of the bird being annihilated by a 90-mph fastball?

[u/Don_Quejode]

My name is Keiko and welcome to jackass!

[u/CzaroftheMonsters]

“To shreds you say…”

[u/YouDaManInDaHole]

By exploding it, they've now created a food cloud that other fish/prey will be attracted to. They'll then eat the fish this food cloud has attracted.

[u/Fahlnor]

Well, that was fucking horrific.

[u/Imhidingfromu]

Aw that was mean

[u/bogz_dev]

ahh yes the sunfish, nature's piñata

[u/SecondCosmos]

To shreds you say...

[u/WordplayWizard]

Who knew that sunfish were the piñatas of the animal kingdom?!

[u/FraggleBiologist]

Did they eat any of it or did they just do it so the one could play in its guts like a sicko?

[u/Zach_The_One]

First orca held it's tail so the sunfish couldn't swim away, literally teed up the other orca. Some savage team work which tells me this isn't the first time or last time they'll do this.