Shark-eating apex predator seen for first time off NC’s Outer Banks, institute says
Great white sharks have long been considered the top of the food chain in waters off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, but not anymore.
The sharks reach 21 feet, but something much bigger and a lot more aggressive has shown up.
“On March 13, (an) aerial survey team spotted an unexpected guest, an orca, off the coast of Kitty Hawk, NC,” the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Institute wrote in a March 20 Facebook post.
“This was an exciting discovery for our team as this is the first time they have spotted an orca since survey efforts began in the area five years ago!”
A size estimate was not provided.
Orcas are “the ocean’s top predator,” NOAA Fisheries says, can reach 32 feet in length, weigh up to 11 tons and live up to 90 years.
They also tend to travel in groups of up to 20, which means the whale was likely not alone, experts say.
Orca diets vary by region, but the menu includes multiple types of sharks, studies have shown.
In March 2024, the Natural History Museum in London reported a pair of killer whales had been attacking great white sharks off South Africa “for their nutrient-rich livers.”
Orcas have also been documented eating bull and blacktip sharks in the Gulf of California, Livescience.com reports.
White sharks, which grow to 4,500 pounds, are common off the Outer Banks, due to their use of the East Coast like a seasonal highway. In the winter, they leave waters off New England and go south for warmer conditions. In the summer, they head back north for cooler waters, experts say.
Researches with OCEARCH theorize the white sharks also might be using waters off the Outer Banks as a breeding ground.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, based in Clearwater, Florida, is dedicated to studying “aquatic ecosystems and the threatened species that call them home.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 10:53 AM with the headline "Shark-eating apex predator seen for first time off NC’s Outer Banks, institute says."