#trua

orca pixel by me :3

"Celestial"

We were made to be nothing more than this, finding magic in all the smallest things.

Everyone looks the same in this town,

I saw the GIF's you shared with the orcas and noticed floppy dorsal fins - is this normal in captive orcas? And do you know what causes it?

Hope this is okay! Your blog has opened my eyes to a lot of stuff to do with captive cetaceans which I really appreciate! :) 🐳

Hello! Thank you for your kind words!

As for floppy dorsal fins... in short, we don't know for sure! Bent and collapsed dorsals do occur in the wild, although at an exponentially lower rate than in captivity. While this often appears linked to animals in poor health, many floppy-finned individuals live normal lifespans.

Meanwhile, in human care, 100% of adult males and some females have at least some level of dorsal fin collapse.

The most popular theory is that collapsed fins have to do with water pressure. Cetacean dorsal fins do not contain bone, but rather are made entirely of a dense yet pliable connective tissue called collagen. Wild orcas spend most of their time swimming and diving for food. Because so much of their time is spent under the surface, the water pressure supports their dorsals and allows the collagen to strengthen. In managed environments, however, orcas spend a lot more time at the surface, interacting with their care staff. Without the constant water pressure, the collagen fibers do not fully harden and eventually the fin collapses under its own weight.

There is anecdotal evidence that surface-hunting populations of wild orcas (for example, those that feed on sharks) have a higher rate of dorsal collapse than others (I have not found the proper source for this yet, so take it with a grain of salt). This might also may explain why so many sick individuals experience collapse—they float at the surface rather than diving to hunt, allowing their collagen to weaken. This also works in tandem with the theory that warmer temperatures encourage the collagen to soften, since it's typically significantly warmer above the surface.

Genetics also appear to play some role in dorsal fin collapse. Katina, the 46-year-old matriarch of the SeaWorld Orlando pod, and her 15-year-old daughter Nalani (pictured below) both have noticably bent dorsals, particularly for females.

(Image credit to @girlwiththeorcatattoo)

Meanwhile, Kasatka, the late matriach of the San Diego pod, and her daughters and granddaughters all have much straighter fins, despite living in an essentially identical environment. Interestingly, Kasatka's son Nakai (pictured below in 2015), had the straightest dorsal fin of any captive male for nearly 20 years before it finally flopped over.

There are other orcas that confound our understanding of collapse. Corky and Orkid (pictured below), 57 and 33 years old respectively, both have lovely, tall, perfectly straight dorsals, despite Corky spending years in an extremely undersized tank at Marineland of the Pacific before transferring to SeaWorld San Diego in the 1980s.

Ulises (pictured below), who at a whopping 44 years old is the oldest male orca in human care, has only a flopped tip rather than a completely collapsed fin.

Even Tokitae (pictured below), who has spent over 50 years in a far-too-small tank at Miami Seaquarium, has an almost completely straight dorsal.

I summary, we really don't know for sure. What we do know is collapsed dorsal fins do not seem to have a negative impact on their health, and that it is absolutely not the result of "depression" or mistreatment, as is often touted in activist circles. Emotions definitely don't affect collagen!