"Type D" killer whale

[Melanie]

Mysterious new orca species likely identified
For the first time, scientists have filmed and studied the elusive “type D” killer whales in the wild.

www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/03/new-killer-whale-species-discovered/

[surroundx]

Enigmatic megafauna: type D killer whale in the Southern Ocean

In 1955, 17 killer whales (Orcinus orca) stranded on a beach in Paraparaumu, New Zealand. From the grainy, black and white photographs (Fig. 1), it was clear that they were not typical killer whales: they were small, with narrow, pointy dorsal fins, a bulbous head, and the prominent white eyepatch normally found on killer whales was reduced to a tiny slip. Nothing like them had ever been reported – either before the stranding or for decades afterward.

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecy.2871