A female Orca was found dead in Algarve, south of Portugal. It was with great apprehension that Francisco saw the first photos, showing a missing right flipper. Corsica 018, a known female orca from the Iberian population was the only orca known to have a missing (right) flipper. After being towed to shore, on her arrival to the docs, the distinct scar on the base of her dorsal fin put all doubts to a rest, she was Corsica.
We sighted Corsica in our first dolphin watching tour in Lisbon, back in 2017. She and her daughter, Matteo, travelled with Morales’ pod and we found them 30 min from Lisbon, just off Caparica coast.
Corsica born around the year 2000-2002, making her 20-22 years old, young for an orca, as her grandmother Toni, is still alive and around 50 years old.
She left 2 offspring, Matteo with 5 years and Isa, turning now 1 year.
She does not belong to the ‘famous’ group GLADIS, she was not observed involved in the events of interactions, with any type of boat.