Pseudorca

False Killer whale (scient. Pseudorca crassidens) is a large dolphin (not whale), which is very rare in the waters of Greece and more frequent in the Eastern Mediterranean (Israel, Cyprus). It is distributed in warm waters worldwide, but has not been studied in depth yet. There has never been reported a pseudorca in Crete, but the occasional visits of this kind in the Aegean Sea, make its existence around Crete almost certain.

This species resembles a dolphin, but has much larger size and can reach a length of 6m. As its name suggests, it has similar characteristics to the famous killer whale or orca. One of them is that pseudorcas often attack and kill other cetaceans (dolphins and smaller whales). The color of its body is black and it feeds mainly on fish, cephalopods and molluscs.