One of the ocean’s most intelligent and aggressive predators has once again surprised scientists with its new behavior. In the Gulf of California, researchers observed orcas working together to destroy dead sunfish In pieces – a questionable food processing technique that makes it easier for young whales to eat giant bony fish weighing up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg).
In two separate encounters, one orca Caught a sharp-tailed sunfish (masturus lanceolatus) while another orca moved towards the fish. The first whale released its carcass just before impact, giving its partner the opportunity to slam into the fish at high speed and scatter pieces of fish flesh throughout the water.
“It was unlike anything I’d seen before,” katherine ayresa scientist with the conservation nonprofit Beneath the Waves told Live Science in an email. “As a scientist, moments like this are incredibly exciting because you realize you are seeing something that has never been recorded in detail before – as you can tell in the video!”
Ayres and colleagues dubbed this behavior “ram-to-piece”. His comments, published July 23 in the journal boundaries in morality, There are suggestions that the killer whales were not trying to kill the sunfish, which were already dead and appeared to have had organs removed from their bodies. Instead, orcas may be breaking down heavy carcasses so that group members, especially smaller animals, can more easily feed.
hunting in action
The first observed encounter of Ayres occurred in July 2024 near an offshore seamount near Baja California Sur, Mexico. An adult female orca was holding a sharp-tailed sunfish by its tail-like clavus, or rudder, while an adult male orca was moving rapidly towards it on its belly. The female releases the fish a moment before the male attacks.
The impact produced a loud noise and disintegrated the sunfish’s tissue. In the video, Iris’s shock is evident as she can be heard saying, “Oh my God!”
A juvenile orca then swam into the cloud of suspended flesh and ate smaller pieces, while the adults ate what remained of the main carcass.
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A second encounter, which researchers Estimated Diver Hector Franz followed the same sequence for filming in September 2025. One adult orca immobilized the sunfish, another stroked it, and later a calf pulled tissue from the dismembered carcass.
Ayres had previously observed orcas hunting oceanic sunfish (Mola Mola), but this was different.
“I had seen orcas attack their prey before, but I had never seen an impact so powerful that the tissue would be completely torn to shreds like this,” Ayres said. “That’s what made this observation so remarkable.”
This maneuver resembled the coordinated attacks carried out by Ayres and his team. already documentedin which orcas were encountered whale shark (rhincodon typus) — Largest living fish – in the Gulf of California. During those hunts, some of the orcas took turns mauling him.
Previous footage by diver Kelsey Williamson shows orcas turning whale sharks upside down to make them easier to hunt.
(Image credit: Kelsey Williamson)
Why make fish confetti?
Ramming is not a new killer whale hunting technique, he said matt hensona postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, who was not involved in the study. However, the sequence of catch and release and dismemberment of the carcasses may be new, Hansen told Live Science in an email.
Researchers proposed several possible explanations for the behavior. The leading hypothesis is that the adults were preparing food for the younger whales. Orcas often tear apart prey and share excerpt Young killer whales were present, along with calves and juveniles, and in both newly described encounters.
But two observations are not enough to show that the adults were intentionally feeding or teaching the young, heather hillProfessor and Chair of Psychology at St. Mary’s University in Texas, who was not involved in the research, told Live Science in an email.
He said, “In my opinion whether this represents parental investment, observational learning or distribution of resources is circumstantial.”
The researchers also suggested that the behavior may have been playful. orcas are highly intelligent and socialAnd they sometimes manipulate, toss, or attack prey without immediately eating it. However, Hill said that both encounters seemed more practical than playful.
“If this were for fun, I would expect multiple attempts with variations in speed, contact point, force of impact, and initiators because the purpose of play is to try different things and not destroy the toy too soon,” she said. “Since these events appear to have been ‘one and done’, so to speak, perhaps less playful and more functional – to get the fish to eat and perhaps to model a baiting technique and possibly to share resources with the young animal.”
The study authors also raise a more speculative possibility that spreading the sunfish’s microbe-rich skin and gelatinous tissue could somehow affect the surrounding waters or expose the orcas to potentially beneficial microbes. But what that benefit might be is unclear.
“I don’t think spreading the skin in water will have any different effect than eating it,” Hansen said. “Unless the author is suggesting [the orcas] Using it as a lotion on your skin? Who knows, the world is weird and wonderful.”
Ayres KA, Gallagher AJ, Avena CV, Duarte CM and Higuera Rivas JE (2026) Fragmentation of sharp-tail sunfish (Masturus lanceolatus) due to high-impact ramming behavior in orcas (Orcinus orca). Front. Athol. 5:1835536. DOI: 10.3389/phetho.2026.1835536
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