Orcas have been observed flipping great white sharks upside down before surgically removing their livers.
While great white sharks are among the ocean’s most formidable predators, orcas have developed a highly effective hunting tactic to take them down.
Researchers studying a pod of killer whales in the Gulf of California have documented this sophisticated strategy: the orcas flip juvenile great white sharks onto their backs, triggering a condition called tonic immobility. This natural reflex puts the shark into a temporary trance-like state, leaving it paralyzed and defenseless.
In three separate documented encounters, the pod known as “Moctezuma’s pod” was seen chasing young great whites to the surface, rolling them over, and then precisely extracting their massive, nutrient-rich livers.
The liver is the ultimate prize. In great white sharks, it can make up as much as 25% of their body weight and is loaded with energy-dense oils that the sharks use for buoyancy. For orcas, it represents one of the highest-calorie meals available in the ocean.
After securing the liver, the orcas were observed sharing it among pod members, strong evidence that this specialized hunting technique is culturally transmitted and learned across generations.
This behavior adds to the growing list of remarkable hunting traditions developed by different orca populations, which include creating waves to wash seals off ice floes, deliberately beaching themselves to catch sea lions, and even hunting large whales.
What makes the discovery especially notable is that the victims are juvenile great whites. Adult great whites often flee an area entirely when orcas appear, sometimes abandoning productive hunting grounds for months. Younger sharks, however, appear less experienced at recognizing the threat.
Scientists believe that changing ocean conditions and shifting nursery habitats may be bringing more young great whites into contact with these skilled orca hunters, opening up new opportunities for this dramatic predation strategy.
[Higuera-Rivas, J. E., Pancaldi, F., Villegas, M., et al. (2026). Novel evidence of interaction between killer whales (Orcinus orca) and juvenile white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Frontiers in Marine Science, 12, 1667683.
DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1667683]