Orcas, Dolphins Spotted Off Palos Verdes Coast: WATCH

PALOS VERDES, CA – Some extra special friends went out to play in the ocean off of the Palos Verdes coast Wednesday – a pod of orcas and another pod of dolphins were seen swimming and splashing in the water. The killer whales were seen almost two miles west of Point Vincente, where they breeched the water multiple times, ABC7 reported.

Not too far away, the pod of dolphins jumped through the waves and then swam off. A seal swam near the orca pod, and at times the orcas circled the seal, according to ABC7.

While Southern California has its own resident killer whales that are socialized to hunt a certain way for local prey, 'transient pods' with their own unique methods have appeared in the South Bay waters in recent years.

Transient orcas, also known as Bigg's killer whales, have made appearances in Southern California waters a few times throughout the years, albeit it's still fairly rare. Schulman-Janiger is part of the California Killer Whale Project, which catalogs individual orcas based on their distinct markings. One family, known by the CA51 designation, has been spotted off the Southern California coast multiple times over the past couple of years.

In 2013, Schulman-Janiger said that transient orcas are visiting Southern California more often due to an abundance of prey; transient orcas eat small marine mammals and have been known to attack baby gray whales. Southern resident orcas, which generally live in the Puget Sound off Seattle and British Columbia, eat mostly fish.

Killer whales are the largest member of the dolphin family, and they can eat about 500 pounds—or 5 percent of their body weight—daily. They can swim up to 30 miles per hour.

Nicole Mooradian contributed to this post; Image via skeeze / Pixabay