#saddle patch

[a24matriline]

Toba(A78), who has two new small nicks, making for a more distinct dorsal, especially when it is full grown.

Photo credit: Nick Templeman Taken on July 22 2015

[a24matriline]

The deceased matriarch, mother, and grandmother of the A24s, Kelsey(A24)

Photo credit: Ellen D. Hartlmeier Taken on August 20 2008

[a24matriline]

Kanish(A89)

Photo credit: Nick Templeman Taken on July 22 2015

[a24matriline]

Seven-year old Mystery(A94)

Photo credit: Mackay Whale Watching Taken on August 6 2016

[a24matriline]

The youngest A24 sibling, Mystery(A94), a juvenile male

Photo credit: Nick Templeman taken on July 22 2015

[thesaddlepatch]

Geographic Variation in the Color Pattern of Killer Whales

1981

Evans and Yablokov (1978) proposed a method for analyzing differences in the color pattern of killer whales (Orcinus orca). This species' rather complex pattern was divided into several distinct components. Using schemes similar to those proposed by Yablokov (1969), Mitchell (1970), Perrin (1972) and Evans (1975), each component was identified by a descriptive name associated with its anatomical location, e.g. post-dorsal fin saddle, flank field, post-ocular, etc. The observed variants of each component were compiled from illustrations in the literature, photographs taken in the field during various research cruises, and by examination, of live specimens at Sea World, San Diego, California, Orlando, Florida and at several other oceanaria in the United States and Canada

Link

[thesaddlepatch]

Variation in Saddle Patch Pigmentation from BC Alaska and Washington

1988

Patterns of pigmentation of the post dorsal fin patch, or saddle patch were analysed from photographs of 372 resident and 99 transient Killer Whales from British Colmbia, Alaska and Washington State.

[thesaddlepatch]

A comparison of pigmentation features among North Atlantic killer whale populations

Makelainen et al., Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (2014)

Abstract: Here we present a comparison of saddle and eye patch patterns of killer whales from Norwegian, Icelandic, British, Spanish and Greenlandic waters. We found only a small amount of variation in saddle patch shapes, which may reflect a recent phylogenetic divergence from the most recent common ancestor. Eye patch shapes were more variable than saddle patches in small details. Most individuals had eye patches with parallel orientation, with the exception of a small group of killer whales from the Hebrides, which, as previously reported, had sloping eye patches that sloped downward at the posterior end. This differentiation in pigmentation patterns of the Hebridean killer whales from neighbouring populations could reflect one or more of several evolutionary processes, including a deeper phylogenetic divergence, low gene flow with other local populations and drift.

Link