Pair of apex predators spotted off Irish coast for first time in 2025, video shows

Miami Herald

06-05-2025

World Pair of apex predators spotted off Irish coast for first time in 2025, video shows
A well-known pair of killer whales was recently spotted off the coast of Ireland for the first time in nearly a year, video footage shows. It was also the first killer whale sighting off the country in 2025.
Photo from Tatjana Eva, UnSplash
A pair of well-known orcas — believed to be the last surviving members of their community — was spotted off the coast of Ireland after going undetected for nearly a year.
The marine mammals, named John Coe and Aquarius, were seen near Rathlin Island — located on the northern coast of the Emerald Isle — on May 5, according to a news release from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG), a conservation nonprofit.
Video footage posted by the group shows one of the orcas, distinguished by its tall dorsal fin, briefly breaching the choppy surface before slipping back below the waves.
It's the organization's first confirmed killer whale sighting of 2025, making it 'an important record.'
It's also the first time the duo has been documented since July 2024, when they were seen off the Blasket Islands, located on the country's southwest coast, hundreds of miles away.
John Coe and Aquarius, both males, are thought to be the only remaining members of the Scottish West Coast Community Group, which had up to 9 members not long ago.
Members of the group are differentiated from other orcas by their 'unusual sloping eye patch and larger size,' according to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, a Scottish conservation nonprofit.
John Coe is believed to be over 60 years old and Aquarius is assumed to be slightly younger, according to the group.
Sightings of John Coe in the area date back to at least the 1980s, when he was spotted in groups of up to 20 animals. But, in recent years, several members of their community have died, while others have disappeared from the record. And no calves have been documented.
'How this group has come so close to extinction, with just two remaining old bulls, in such a relatively short period of time remains something of a mystery,' according to IWDG.
Killer whales, which are found throughout the world's oceans, face a number of threats, including entanglements with fishing gear, vessel strikes, oil spills and lack of food from overfishing, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
BR Brendan Rascius
McClatchy DC Go to X Email this person
Brendan Rascius is a McClatchy national real-time reporter covering politics and international news. He has a master's in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's in political science from Southern Connecticut State University.