The orca, or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. The only extant species in the genus Orcinus, it is recognizable by its distinct pigmentation; being
Orcinus citoniensis fossil, an extinct species of the same genus, Museo Capellini in Bologna
Modern orca skeleton, Naturalis, Leiden
An orca leaps out of the water when swimming—a behaviour known as porpoising—in Hood Canal
The toothed whales are a parvorder of cetaceans that includes dolphins, porpoises, and all other whales with teeth, such as beaked whales and the sperm whales. 73 species of toothed whales are describ
A whale as depicted by Conrad Gessner, 1587, in his Historiae animalium
Pacific white-sided dolphins porpoising
Spectrogram of dolphin vocalizations. Whistles, whines, and clicks are visible as upside down V's, horizontal striations, and vertical lines, respectively.