Abstract
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are cosmopolitan apex predators that interact with numerous species, including sharks, skates, and rays (subclass Elasmobranchii). Interactions between killer whales and elasmobranchs have garnered attention from the scientific community, but the dynamics of these events are poorly understood, as interactions are often challenging to observe. In this study, we collated imagery of interactions between killer whales and elasmobranchs to create the first image-based repository of interspecific interactions between marine predators. A total of 320 photos and videos from 82 unique interactions were collected from 12 countries. A minimum of 18 elasmobranch species across 16 genera were identified from the imagery. Furthermore, 10 different interaction types were documented, encompassing both predatory and non-predatory behavior. This dataset can provide insight into various research topics, including killer whale predation techniques, elasmobranch behavior, and the identification of individual killer whales that specialize in elasmobranch prey. As a new and openly accessible resource, this dataset provides the foundation to support future ecological and behavioral research on killer whale and elasmobranch interactions.
Keywords
Killer whales, elasmobranchs, predator interactions, marine ecology, image-based dataset, behavioral ecology
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
12-1-2026
Volume
13
Issue
1
PubMed ID
41639116
Publication Title
Scientific Data
Publisher
Nature
School
Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research
Funders
Playford Trust Foundation / Australian Government / Australian Research Council
Grant Number
ARC Number : DE220101409
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Luck, E., Reeves, I. M., Terrapon, M., Wellard, R., Venables, S. K., Towner, A. V., Kock, A. A., Hussain, C., Altschwager, M., Ballard, R., Baudin, E., Black, N., Brodsky, E., Cantrall, J., Cardoso, J., Carter, M. I. D., Clarke, O., Diaz-Pazmino, S., Donnelly, D., . . . Meyer, L. (2026). A global image-based data repository of killer whale interactions with elasmobranchs. Scientific Data, 13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-06740-3