Killer whales in Genoa
But he is not the only one who has spotted them. In fact, Lucio Ruocco contacted us , who was sailing his sailboat off Sturla (east of Genoa) on Saturday morning and was probably one of the first to spot the cetaceans. “There were four of them, definitely two large ones and two small ones, moving around the meda that is off Sturla. They appeared to us to be in good condition, although we felt they were a bit disoriented partly because they were moving through an area filled with debris and logs brought in by rain and storm surges. We sailed slowly alongside them, but at a safe distance, for a good distance“. From Sturla to Voltri therefore, the killer whale group’s route seems to be from east to west, although this is obviously only a guess.
This is not the first sighting in the Mediterranean, but our sea is not their natural habitat as these large cetaceans live in significantly colder waters. The other sighting in the Mediterranean was a few years ago in Sardinia, but a report from Spain dating back to the November 19: In the waters of Cartagena four specimens had been spotted swimming in a group, it could even be assumed to be the same group spotted in Genoa. A fairly settled killer whale community resides near Gibraltar; it is likely that this Mediterranean entry belongs to that group.
On the phenomenon, biologists and scholars, after confirming that it is unequivocally orcas, have not yet advanced an unambiguous explanation. In theory, warming waters in the Mediterranean should drive these large cetaceans away, but it cannot be ruled out that due to climate change these large mammals may be disoriented and venture out on routes unusual to them.
