Old Thom: The killer whale that everyone knows but few have seen
Beloved orca makes rare return to Bay of Fundy
Just as Captain Ahab was obsessed with Moby Dick, the island of Grand Manan has its own whale of myth and legend.
He's called Old Thom — and he's back.
A lucky sighting on Sunday satisfied a long-standing dream for one island resident.
"It was actually my first time seeing him, but I've tried for a decade to see him," said Jennifer Pierce.
Old Thom is the name affectionately given to the killer whale who is seen every few years around the Bay of Fundy.
"About 20 years ago, a fisherman started saying he had seen an orca. Nobody believed him, everybody thought 'yeah, right, you're mistaken,'" Pierce said.
But this was no fisherman's tale.
He was spotted more frequently until photographic evidence began to satisfy any remaining Old Thom unbelievers. Pierce was always a believer, but seeing him in person made all the difference.
"It was just incredible to see that fin rise out of the water," she said.
Loved by locals and scientists alike
While the killer whale captures the hearts of Grand Mananers, Old Thom is an enigma to researchers as well.
Amy Knowlton is a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium in Boston.
She's been studying right whales in the Bay of Fundy since 1987, which has led her to cross paths with Old Thom.
She said seeing killer whales, also known as orcas, in the Bay of Fundy is unique. It's a small population and they usually don't venture too close to shore.
"I think I've seen him three times during my 40-year career studying right whales. It's always exciting," Knowlton said.
While Knowlton specializes in right whales, she can point out one glaring detail that sets Old Thom apart from usual orca behaviour — he's never with other whales.
He does have a few unlikely companions. Old Thom is known to hang out with a pod of dolphins. Knowlton observed this in her 2020 observation of Old Thom with a group of white-sided dolphins.
"They were like playing around Old Thom … whether they were harassing him or they liked hanging out together, I can't say really. But it was pretty cool to see that," Knowlton said.
It was dolphins that tipped off Pierce on the whale watching cruise she was on Sunday.
"We left the humpback whales and started seeing a few dolphins, well Old Thom travels with dolphins," Pierce said as she recounted Sunday's adventure to find the whale.
The dolphins didn't lie.
"A few minutes later, one of the other boats called and said they had him," Pierce said.
Even if the dolphins have become friends instead of dinner, whatever Old Thom eats, "it seems to work for him, he seems to be doing fine," Knowlton said.
Orcas feed on fish and other bigger species.
"Sometimes we see tooth marks on right whale flukes that some have been linked to orca tooth marks," Knowlton said.
A visit to Grand Manan
Knowlton said she doesn't know Old Thom's age or why he migrates. The orca is also a bit of a local celebrity around Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
But wherever he goes or however old he is, Old Thom can't be mistaken — he has a distinctive notch on his dorsal fin.
"You know it's him when you see that," Pierce said.
Old Thom has delighted other locals, too.
A trip out on the sea with neighbours in their boat for whale watching turned into a rare Old Thom sighting for Scott Leite of White Head, a small island off Grand Manan.
Leite had never seen Old Thom before but has heard about him for many years.
"He's just been here a long time, that's why he's called Old Thom. A lot of people have heard of him but not seen him," Leite said.
He was most taken aback by the happenstance nature of the encounter — the Bay of Fundy is quite large.
"It's kind of like meeting your future wife. You bump into somebody and then it happens," Leite said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
