GALVESTON, Texas - A pod of orcas made a rare appearance off the Texas coast!
Passengers on a fishing boat off the coast of Galveston, Texas got to see the rare sight on Wednesday, March 17. Footage shared by Sam Hardeman, a fishing vessel captain, shows adult killer whales breaching the waters with juvenile orcas.
"Ran into a pod of killer whales on the drive home today," he wrote in a Facebook caption. "Once-in-a-lifetime experience."
"They’re really putting on a show now," an angler said in the video as several orcas broke the surface directly in front of the boat.
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Pod of orcas spotted during rare sighting off Texas coast
Sam, a fishing vessel captain, shows adult killer whales breaching the waters with juvenile orcas. Credit: Sam Hardeman via Storyful
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A spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the sighting was uncommon, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
According to a 2020 preliminary report, an estimated 267 killer whales live in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The most recent final stock assessment in 2012 estimated just 28 orcas in that region.
Storyful contributed to this article