7 January 2026
Orcas (Orcinus orca), sometimes called killer whales, are the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family and like their cousins, bottlenose dolphins, they shed their skin continuously.
Shedding is so important that those who live in frigid polar water cannot shed effectively so algae builds up on their skin. To solve this Antarctic orcas make very fast 5,000-mile round trip migrations to tropical waters off the Atlantic coast of South America where their skin sheds quickly. It takes so little time to get a whole new skin in warm water that they are back home in only 40 days.
Not all orcas need to visit the tropics for their skin health. Resident orcas on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada use a scraping technique to shed skin. On 2 January (human) residents of Sunshine Coast, BC were treated to this unique behavior when a pod of orcas swam for 20 minutes in shallow water, scraping their bellies on smooth submerged rocks like these.
The resident orcas are so well known that were easily identified.
The group of whales has been identified as northern resident killer whales (NRKW) and the A5 pod, which comprises three different families, according to Jared Towers, the executive director of Bay Cetology.
— CBC News
Orcas scratch their itch in shallow water.
p.s. Here’s a little more background.
(a) We’re familiar with what orcas look like when they jump in deep water.
(b) The Sunshine Coast district in British Columbia, Canada is north of the city of Vancouver and across the strait from Vancouver Island, BC
Location of the Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada (embedded from Google Maps)
(c) Resident orcas are also common in the vicinity of Vancouver Island, BC.
INCREDIBLE!!!
Cool! I got to see orcas from Anacortes, WA, last summer – just south of Vancouver.