Posted: Mar. 8, 2019 2:08PM

CHEK

A rare photo of Type D killer whales showing their blunt heads and tiny eyepatches. Credit: J.P. Sylvestre, South Georgia, 2011.

A B.C. researcher is part of a group of scientists who may have found a new species of killer whale off the coast of Chile.

Jared Towers, a scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada who works out of Nanaimo and Alert Bay, has been with the rest of the team off Cape Horn in southern Chile. Called “Type D” killer whales, the elusive animals previously only existed based on a stranding 60 years ago in New Zealand, as well as fishermen’s stories and tourist photographs.

A whale of a tale come true? Our scientist Jared Towers was part of an international research team led by @NOAAFisheries that may have just discovered an entirely new species of #KillerWhales off the coast of Chile! https://t.co/900RlnDNO3 pic.twitter.com/dnqfv9iKDp

— Fisheries and Oceans (@FishOceansCAN) March 7, 2019

The team has collected three biopsy samples – bits of skin taken from the whales with a crossbow dart- to determine if the killer whales are a new species.

“We are very excited about the genetic analyses to come. Type D killer whales could be the largest undescribed animal left on the planet and a clear indication of how little we know about life in our oceans,” said Bob Pitman, a researcher from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California.

The Type D killer whales have a tiny eye patch, a more rounded head and a more narrow, pointed dorsal fin. Regular orcas, like the southern resident killer whales have a larger white eye patch, along with a less-rounded head and dorsal fin shape.

Top: An adult male ‘regular’ killer whale – note the size of the white eye patch, less rounded head and dorsal fin shape. Bottom: An adult male Type D killer whale – note the tiny eye patch, more rounded head, and more narrow, pointed dorsal fin. Illustrations by Uko Gorter.