Orcas seen swimming off Nantucket: 'Always unusual to see killer whales in New England waters'

NANTUCKET - Researchers with the New England Aquarium saw something "unreal" over the weekend: Four killer whales swimming together. The Orca sighting from the air happened 40 miles south of Nantucket on Sunday.

Associate research scientist Orla O'Brien said it's "always unusual to see killer whales in New England waters."

"Seeing them swim in formation was just unreal," O'Brien said in a statement. "We believe the sighting to be two males and two females, but that hasn't been confirmed. I think seeing killer whales is particularly special for us because it unlocks that childhood part of you that wanted to be a marine biologist."

The Orca population is believed to be very small in western North Atlantic waters, the aquarium says. In fact, they say a large male orca named "Old Thom" is the only killer whale regularly seen in the area, and he is known to sometimes swim with dolphins.

While the last official sighting of Old Thom was in May 2022 of Cape Cod, a fishing crew spotted a killer whale alongside a dolphin pod on Sunday off Provincetown.

Christopher Simon says the crew of the Simonsez was fishing for tuna in the Stellwagen Bank when Captain Kevin Simon spotted a "large fin" among the pod of dolphins. The crew shared photos and videos of the orca to Instagram.  

Across the Atlantic, orcas are making headlines as incidents of killer whales ambushing boats seem to be becoming more prevalent off the coasts of Portugal and Spain.