Trio Of “Mystery” Orcas Make Unexpected Visit To Puget Sound

A trio of unexpected guests are visiting the waters of Puget Sound this week.

The visitors are a small pod of "mystery whales," three orcas that were first glimpsed in Vancouver Harbour to start the week and have more recently been sighted further south near Seattle and Olympia.

The tag was given to the three marine mammals by the Orca Behavior Institute of Friday Harbor, which says the whales are likely transients that have filed in from the waters of the Pacific Ocean near Alaska.

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The whale tracking research group, Bay Cetology, which is based on the small island of Alert Bay in British Columbia, says the mystery guests have only been documented on one previous occasion - when they were spotted near Anchorage about a year ago.

Biologists with the organization added that the orcas are not part of the West Coast Transient group of Bigg's killer whales, but rather appear to possibly be a rogue pod which originated from either the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, or Gulf of Alaska.

Scientists with Bay Cetology have officially dubbed the orcas as T419, T420, and T421, and say the trio shows signs of having also inhabited tropical and/or subtropical waters.

Orca populations in the waters surrounding Washington State have been tracked as far back as the early 1970s, and the unexpected drop-ins are currently serving to delight both scientific and casual whale watchers alike, although there is no indication of how long the three orcas will be sticking around before heading off to their next destination.