Orcas have been observed using a previously unknown collaborative feeding strategy: ramming large sharptail sunfish with such force that they explode into fragments, a behavior captured in two recent underwater videos.
Divers in the Mexican Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California captured unprecedented underwater video in 2024 and 2025 showing orcas employing a brutal, high-speed ramming technique to blast large sharptail sunfish into pieces. This newly documented collaborative feeding strategy involves one orca holding the massive fish (which can weigh over 4,000 pounds) by its tail while another swims at high speed to deliver a devastating body slam. Researchers, led by Kathryn Ayres, reported this behavior in the journal Frontiers in Ethology, noting that young orcas then feast on the dispersed fragments. While the cooperative ramming itself isn't entirely new for orcas, the explosive outcome is unique. Experts like Monika Wieland Shields of the Orca Behavior Institute confirm it as a 'newly documented behavior.' The reasons behind this extreme tactic are still being explored. It could be a way to make the nutrient-rich sunfish more accessible and easier to share among the pod, especially for calves and juveniles. However, observations that the orcas sometimes consume the internal organs before the ramming suggest another possibility: play. Orcas are known for their playful interactions with prey and other objects, leading researchers to hypothesize that causing the fish to explode might simply be for entertainment. The unique, laterally compressed anatomy of the sunfish, especially after internal organs are removed, might make it particularly susceptible to rupturing under such high-impact force.
