"Rarely seen" killer whales spotted hunting sea lions off California coast

Orcas that are "rarely seen" were caught on camera hunting sea lions off the California coast this week, the Monterey Bay Whale Watch said on Wednesday. 

The "absolutely fantastic whale watching day" included seeing eight orcas hunting multiple sea lions on Tuesday, the whale watch said in a post on Facebook. The California Killer Whale Project, which tags and identifies killer whales in the area, identified some of the whales, and identified them as individual whales that do not make frequent appearances. One of the whales was a calf traveling with its mother, the Monterey Bay Whale Watch said.

The group said that they witnessed the whales leaping out of the water, breaching the surface and slapping their tails as they hunted the sea lions before traveling "very fast to the northwest."