Orcas spotted in Algoa Bay

An infamous pair of floppy-finned orcas with a soft spot for shark livers has been spotted in Algoa Bay.

The fearsome duo were photographed off Cape Recife, and experts confirmed on Wednesday the pictures matched the specimens that had been wreaking havoc with white sharks off the western and southern Cape.

They were spotted on Saturday by Warren Tarboton, 19, skipper with Raggy Charters, one of two boat-based whale watching operators in Algoa Bay, who was out fishing on his day off.

“They surfaced about 50m from our boat,” he said.

The orcas seemed relaxed and inquisitive and had approached closer to have a look at them, he said.

Taking the opportunity, he alerted his boss, Lloyd Edwards, who turned around the cruise he was leading and get to the site on time. Edwards said the animals had remained low in the water but their unusual dorsal fins gave them away.

The “super-cosmopolitan” marauders have been spotted from Walvis Bay in Namibia through Langebaan, False Bay, Gansbaai, Plettenberg Bay and now in Algoa Bay.

The trouble started in Gansbaai, a hotspot for white sharks, in February last year, when the first carcass was found, and this coincided with a sudden absence of white sharks across the region. Each time a carcass was found, a pair of floppy-finned orcas was in the vicinity.

While this was a world first recovery of a liver-less shark killed by an orca, the attacks had been documented before, most notably off California.