The trio of transient orcas spent around four days in the Vancouver, B.C., area and on Wednesday, they were spotted in Seattle.

SEATTLE — Three unknown orcas have been spotted in Vancouver Harbour and more recently near Seattle and Olympia, sparking the excitement of western Washington residents who track local orca activity closely. 

The trio of transient orcas, dubbed “mystery whales” by the San Juan Island-based Orca Behavior Institute, spent around four days in the Vancouver, B.C., area. On Wednesday, they were spotted in Seattle, and on Thursday they were seen near Olympia.

Bay Cetology, whose marine biologists and research technicians track local whale populations, said it is very rare for unknown whales to show up in the area. They said over 99.5% of the orcas photographed in the region are well known.

These three orcas have only been documented once before, according to Bay Cetology, in Anchorage, Alaska, one year ago. Their biologists said based on the orcas’ coloring and scars, they do not belong to the West Coast Transient population of Bigg’s killer whales. 

Scars from cookiecutter sharks indicate that the orcas have been in tropical or sub-tropical waters, according to Howard Garrett, the board president and co-founder of Orca Network. That means their range could be from the equator up to the Arctic. 

Garrett said hydrophones in Des Moines picked up the trio’s vocalization and they do not sound like any other type of orca commonly found in Washington’s waters.

“This is a very intriguing visit for sure because they have not been identified as to what population they belong to,” Garrett said.

Bay Cetology has assigned the whales official names of T419, T420 and T421, which means they are the 419th, 420th and 421st known transient whales not descended from a known female. That includes populations tracked all the way back to early 1970s.

The orcas are believed to be from the Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands, and Bering Sea populations, according to the Orca Behavior Institute. The institute said not much is known about that population, especially those orcas in the western reaches of the range. 

Unknown orcas seen in Seattle