Screenshot from Nick Trist's Instagram.

Killer Whales in the Gulf of Mexico?

Here’s something you don’t see every day: killer whales in the Gulf of Mexico.

Aside from the fact that you probably aren’t a fisherman or the resident of a world-traveling house boat, you don’t see this very often because orcas tend to prefer the colder waters that come with higher latitudes.

However such sightings are not unheard of, as one group of friends recently discovered. While fishing for tuna earlier this week, they spotted a pod of killer whales about 50 miles south of South Pass, LA.

One of those friends, Nick Trist, managed to capture a short video of the encounter on Instagram. The brief clip shows a number of killer whales (which are actually a species of dolphin, by the way) swimming just a few yards from the group’s boat.

So what does this all mean? According to WWL-TV, Dr. Moby Solangi at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport says it could be a warning sign for some kind of environmental problem. Apparently scientists at the institute have learned the precise location of the sighting and plan to investigate.

A video posted by Nick Trist (@nicktrist4) on