Find content specifically related to marine mammals of the Puget Sound and Salish Sea ecosystems. For checklists and descriptive accounts of individual species, visit our species library's marine mammals page.
Marine mammals
Related Articles
The news of two new southern resident orca calves this year marks the 50th anniversary of whale counts from the Center for Whale Research.
Killer whales are active both day and night, but most scientific research focuses on their daytime activities. A recent study looked at a small group of endangered southern residents to find out how often they hunt after the sun goes down. Ocean noise tends to decrease at night, potentially making it easier for the whales to catch salmon, but could they take advantage?
Overview
The northern right whale dolphin (Lissodelphis borealis) is one of the most unusual marine mammals of the North Pacific Ocean. It is the only dolphin species in the Northern Hemisphere with no hint of a dorsal fin, and it is very slender and streamlined, making it appear almost eel-like. Northern right whale dolphins are found only in cool temperate waters of the North Pacific and are moderately common in offshore waters. However, they are uncommon in nearshore regions and rarely enter inshore bays or channels. While they have been sighted here, their occurrence in Puget Sound and the Salish
The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) is a community of ecotourism professionals with a shared commitment to education, conservation, and responsible wildlife viewing in Washington state and British Columbia. The 2025 PWWA annual report summarizes wildlife sightings and sentinel actions logged by members throughout the year. Sentinel actions are protective measures taken by professional whale watchers, such as warning vessels near whales or removing marine debris.
Overview
Gray whales are among the more commonly sighted large whale species in the Salish Sea and along the coast of the Pacific Northwest, but a clearer understanding of the multiple ways they use our waters has only come into focus in recent years. Gray whales were historically mostly known for their annual migrations past the Washington Coast including the entrance to the Salish Sea: southbound in December on route to their wintering grounds in Baja California, Mexico and northbound in March to May returning to their primary feeding grounds in Arctic waters (Figure 1).
In general, gray whale use
Overview
The false killer whale is a tropical to warm temperate species of dolphin that is not normally found in the Salish Sea. However, the species does occasionally appear in small numbers in Pacific Northwest waters of Washington and British Columbia, and even sometimes as far north as Alaska. They are highly social animals that typically feed on large pelagic fish, such as tuna and mahi mahi.
Status, trends & events
False killer whales are considered naturally rare, and there are no global estimates of abundance, but they generally occur in low densities across their extensive range (Zaeschmar and Baird 2025)