SCB but that sightings often involved the same few groups repeatedly 

 and that following the first encounter in a given area the same group 

 was often seen there repeatedly over several weeks. For example, a pod 

 of six killer whales containing a male dubbed as "old bent fin" was seen 

 in 1959 (twice), 1962 (once) and 1976 (twice) in waters ofTSan Diego 

 and the Coronado Islands, a pod of eight remained off San Diego for 



about three weeks in 1982. and one male we photographed in a group 

 of 12 off Santa Barbara in January 1981 remained in that area for at least 

 one week, returned to the area in January 1985 and appeared off 

 Catalina Island in February of the same year. 



Therefore, although killer whales appear not to be particularly 

 abundant in the SCB they might be met with at any time and location. 



Other Species Reported 



False Kjller Whale 

 Pseudona crassidens (Owen, 1846) 



Most researchers have regarded the false killer whale as a predomi- 

 nantly tropical or subtropical species limited to pelagic waters. In the 

 eastern North Pacific, these sleek, black, medium-sized toothed whales 

 (to about 6 m) have, indeed, rarely been reported north of Baja 

 California, where the broad transition between tropical and temperate 

 waters ordinarily occurs. The few records that do exist are of special 

 interest, however, as they leave open the question of whether or not 

 false killer whales are present in pelagic temperate waters in greater 

 numbers than generally believed. 



The northernmost records published are those of a single live whale 

 seen in Ishami Lagoon, Prince William Sound in 1983 and of one 

 animal shot in 1937 near Olympia, Washington. There are no further 

 published records fi'om along the Washington or Oregon coasts and 

 only four from Northern and Central California - a stranding in 1966 

 at Crescent City, rwo solitary whales seen live about jo nm west of 

 Humboldt Bay in the 1970s, and a small group we filmed in pelagic 

 waters between Monterey Bay and Avila Bay in autumn 1982. 



Figure 28. False killer whales are represented in the SCB by an apparent 

 mass stranding on San Nicolas Island prior to 1940 and a handful of verified 

 sightings. (Photo by S. Leatherwood.) 



The situation becomes a bit more complex south of Point Concep- 

 tion. Between 1940 and i960 various researchers collected a total of 9 

 skulls of this species in the area of Dutch Harbor, on the south east end 

 of San Nicolas Isaland. The most recent worker involved in examining 

 those materials interpreted them as evidence of a mass stranding, a fate 

 not uncommon to groups of false killer whales in various locations. 

 There arc a few records of the species alive in the SCB. Herds were 

 seen off Catalina Island in 1959 and about 4 nm off the Palos Verdes 

 Peninsula in 1959 and 196;. A single animal was captured m the area in 

 196; and held at Marineland of the Pacific. We have received reports 

 from observers aboard seven separate albacore fishing boats that they 

 have seen what were probably false killer whales off the Patton 

 Escarpment and near 60 Mile Bank in late summer/autumn 1976-1982. 

 One of us ! SL 1 has seen herds of false killer whales at four separate 

 locations from the 4; fathom spot, southeast of San Clemente Island, 

 to the northern tip of Guadalupe Island. More recently (in October 

 1985) a herd of about 20 false killer whales was again seen off Point 

 Vincente this time by observers on shore. This was the first sighting 

 over the continental shelf in the SCB for 22 years, despite extensive 

 survey effort during much of that time. As these sightings in the SCB 

 have not necessarily occurred during warm water periods one wonders 

 whether or not false killer whales are present in infrequently surveyed 

 pelagic waters seaward of the SCB. 



ife*.^ 



FluUKli 29. False killer whales seen trom the beach at Point Vincente, 

 October 1985. (Photo by t^athy Bates, courtesy of D. R. Mclntyre.) 



21 



