逆戟鲸或虎鲸具有世界性分布，并且已经记录或建议了几个不同的种群或类型。三到五种类型的逆戟鲸可能截然不同，足以被视为不同的种族、亚种，甚至可能是物种（参见物种问题）。iu在 2008年报告说，“该属的分类学显然需要重新审视，很可能o orca将在未来几年内分裂成许多不同的物种或至少是亚种。”尽管不同虎鲸群的生态独特性存在很大差异，这使得简单的类型区分变得复杂。长期以来，人们认为不同地区的食哺乳动物虎鲸可能是密切相关，但基因检测驳斥了这一假设。
北部海域
北太平洋
1970年代和 80年代加拿大和美国西海岸的研究确定了以下三种类型：
驻留（食鱼）逆戟鲸：弯曲的背鳍是驻留雌性的典型特征。
居民：这些是东北太平洋沿岸水域中最常见的三种种群。居民的饮食主要包括鱼类，有时还包括鱿鱼，他们生活在称为豆荚的复杂而有凝聚力的家庭群体中。女性居民的特征是具有圆形的背鳍尖端，终止于尖角。他们始终访问相同的区域。不列颠哥伦比亚省和华盛顿常驻种群是世界上研究最深入的海洋哺乳动物之一。常驻虎鲸可分为至少三个不同的社区；阿拉斯加北部、南部和南部阿拉斯加南部常驻虎鲸分布于阿拉斯加东南部至科迪亚克群岛，数量超过 700只。这些鲸鱼由两个杂交氏族组成，它们以声音叫声区分，并且它们的活动范围重叠。北部居民社区居住在从阿拉斯加东南部到温哥华岛的沿海和内陆水域。它由三个部族和16个群组成，共有 300多头逆戟鲸。南部居民社区通常栖息在不列颠哥伦比亚省南部和华盛顿的内陆水域，但也可以在温哥华岛、华盛顿、俄勒冈和加利福尼亚的外海发现。它们由一个氏族和三个豆荚组成，数量不到 80只，被列为濒危物种。
transient or biggs：这些逆戟鲸的饮食几乎完全由海洋哺乳动物组成他们和居民住在同一地区，但两人互相避开。暂住者通常以小团体形式旅行，通常由两到六只动物组成，并且与居民相比，它们的家庭纽带不那么牢固。瞬变以较少变化和不太复杂的方言发声。与居民相比，雌性瞬变的特征是更多的三角形和尖背鳍。背鳍周围的灰色或白色区域，被称为“马鞍斑”，在居民身上通常含有一些黑色。然而，瞬变的马鞍斑块是实心的且均匀的灰色。瞬变沿海岸广泛漫游；在阿拉斯加南部和加利福尼亚州都发现了一些个体。瞬态也被称为biggs orca以纪念鲸鱼学家 ichael bigg该术语已变得越来越普遍，并可能最终取代瞬态标签。据估计，瞬态生态型在 70万年前就已经分化。北美至少有三种不同的瞬变“种群”，即从威廉王子湾到基奈峡湾的 at1种群、阿拉斯加湾阿留申群岛白令海goaaibs种群和西海岸种群范围从阿拉斯加东南部到加利福尼亚。at1被认为是耗尽的库存；它受到埃克森瓦尔迪兹号漏油事件的影响并在 1989年至 2004年间从 22只减少到 8只。goaaibs的鲸鱼数量可能约为 500头，而西海岸的瞬态逆戟鲸数量超过 320头，阿拉斯加东南部、不列颠哥伦比亚省和华盛顿有 200多头，加利福尼亚州外有 100多头逆戟鲸加利福尼亚的瞬变似乎与那些更远的北部和西海岸的瞬变混合得不多，可能会被划分为子社区。
近海：1988年，一名座头鲸研究人员在开阔水域观察到它们时，在东北太平洋发现了第三个虎鲸种群。顾名思义，它们远离海岸，主要以成群的鱼为食。然而，由于它们的背鳍很大，有伤痕和缺口，类似于捕猎哺乳动物的瞬态背鳍，因此它们可能也吃哺乳动物和鲨鱼。它们大多在温哥华岛西海岸和海达瓜伊附近遇到近海通常以 2075只为一组聚集，偶尔会看到多达 200只的更大群体。人们对它们的习性知之甚少，但它们在基因上与居民和暂住者截然不同。offshores似乎比其他的小，雌性的特征是背鳍尖端连续圆形。
在俄罗斯远东地区和日本北海道的沿海地区也存在独立的食鱼和食哺乳动物虎鲸群落。俄罗斯虎鲸常见于堪察加半岛和指挥官群岛周围。在俄罗斯海域发现了超过 2，000只类似居民的虎鲸和 130只类似暂住的虎鲸。在热带太平洋东部，至少有 195只虎鲸被编目，范围从北部的下加利福尼亚州和加利福尼亚湾到南部的南美洲西北海岸和西部的夏威夷。逆戟鲸似乎经常出现在加拉帕戈斯群岛附近在夏威夷海域发现的逆戟鲸可能属于太平洋中部的一个更大的种群
。
北大西洋及邻近地区
虎鲸在挪威vestfjorden拍尾巴
据估计，北大西洋至少栖息着 15，000头鲸鱼。在东北大西洋，已经提出了两种逆戟鲸生态型。1型逆戟鲸由七种单倍型组成，包括挪威和冰岛的以鲱鱼为食的逆戟鲸和北海以鲭鱼为食的逆戟鲸，以及挪威以外的以海豹为食的逆戟鲸。2型逆戟鲸由两种单倍型组成，主要以须鲸为食。
在地中海，逆戟鲸被认为是“访客”，很可能来自北大西洋，而且越往东，虎鲸的踪迹就越少。然而，直布罗陀海峡全年都有少量种群，2011年约有 39只。热带非洲西海岸也可能存在不同的种群，它们的饮食普遍。
大西洋西北部的种群全年都在拉布拉多和纽芬兰周围发现，而当冰融化时，一些个体会季节性地前往加拿大东部北极地区的水域。南至科德角和长岛都有目击到这些鲸鱼的记录。这个种群可能与在格陵兰岛附近看到的逆戟鲸是连续的。全年都可以在加勒比海看到虎鲸，据估计，墨西哥湾北部有 267头虎鲸（截至 2020年）。
北印度洋
印度洋北部已对 50多头鲸鱼个体进行了编目，其中包括2008年在波斯湾和2015年在斯里兰卡附近发现的两只鲸鱼。
南部海域
逆戟鲸搁浅在瓦尔德斯半岛捕捉海狮
一小群逆戟鲸季节性地造访阿根廷东海岸瓦尔德斯半岛的北端，在岸边捕食海狮和象海豹，暂时搁浅自己。在南非外海，存在一种独特的“扁平牙齿”形态类型，它捕食鲨鱼。一对雄性逆戟鲸port和 starboard因在南非海岸捕猎大白鲨和其他鲨鱼而闻名。
虎鲸遍布澳大利亚、新西兰和巴布亚新几内亚的水域。它们全年都在新西兰水域被发现，而在澳大利亚附近，它们季节性地集中在西北部的宁格鲁礁近岸水域和西南部的布雷默地区。遗传证据表明，新西兰、澳大利亚西北部和西南部的虎鲸形成了三个不同的种群。新西兰逆戟鲸主要捕食鲨鱼和鳐鱼。
南极
据估计，南极周围大约有 25，000只逆戟鲸，有四种类型被记录在案。苏联研究人员在 1980年代描述了两个矮小物种，名为orc nan和orc gcialis，但大多数鲸类研究人员对它们的地位持怀疑态度，并且很难将它们与下述类型直接联系起来。
逆戟鲸变异的一些例子
a型或南极逆戟鲸看起来像“典型”逆戟鲸，体型庞大，黑白相间，眼罩中等大小，生活在开阔水域，主要以小须鲸为食。
b1型或浮冰虎鲸比 a型小。它有一个大的白色眼罩。它身体的大部分深色部分是中灰色而不是黑色，尽管它有一块深灰色斑块，称为“背角”，从前额一直延伸到背鳍的后面。白色区域染成淡黄色。它主要以海豹为食。b1型逆戟鲸在阿德莱德岛和南极半岛大陆之间大量存在。
b2型或gerche逆戟鲸在形态上与 b1型相似，但更小。这种生态型已被记录为以企鹅和海豹为食，并且经常在gerche海峡发现。
c型或罗斯海虎鲸是最小的生态型，并且比其他虎鲸生活在更大的群体中。它的眼罩明显向前倾斜，而不是平行于身体轴线。和 b型一样，它主要是白色和中灰色，有深灰色的背披和黄色斑块。它唯一观察到的猎物是南极鳕鱼。
根据 1955年在新西兰大规模搁浅的照片以及自 2004年以来的六次海上目击事件， d型或亚南极逆戟鲸首次被识别出来。这种类型的第一个视频记录是在 2014年在凯尔盖朗群岛和克罗泽群岛之间拍摄的，并且再次2017年在智利合恩角海岸外。它可以通过白色的小眼罩、比通常的背鳍更窄更短、球状头部（类似于领航鲸）和更小的牙齿来识别。范围似乎在南纬40°s和60°s之间的亚南极海域环绕全球虽然它的饮食尚未确定，但根据延绳钓船只周围的照片确定，它可能包括鱼类，其中 d型逆戟鲸似乎正在捕食巴塔哥尼亚齿鱼 dissostich elegoides 。
b型和 c型生活在靠近冰的地方，这些水域中的硅藻可能是这两种类型的淡黄色的原因。线粒体 dna序列支持这些是最近分化的独立物种的理论。最近，完整的线粒体测序表明 b型和 c型被认为是不同的物种，北太平洋的瞬变物种也应如此，而将其他物种作为亚种等待更多数据。对整个线粒体基因组进行测序的先
进方法揭示了不同人群之间 dna的系统差异。2019年对 d型虎鲸的一项研究还发现，它们与其他种群不同，甚至可能是一个独特的物种。
英文原文：
orcas or killer whales have a sopolitan distribution and several distct poputions or types have been docunted or suggested three to five types of orcas ay be distct enough to be nsidered different races， subspecies， or possibly even species see species proble the iu reported 2008，“the taxonoy of this gen is clearly need of review， and it is likely that o orca will be split to a nuber of different species or at least subspecies over the next few years“ although rge variation the elogical distctiveness of different orca groups plicate siple differentiation to types aaleatg orcas different regions were long thought likely to be closely reted， but geic testg has refuted this hypothesis
northern waters
north pacific
research off the west ast of canada and the united states the 1970s and 1980s identified the follog three types
resident fisheatg orcas the curved dorsal fs are typical of resident feales
resident these are the ost only sighted of the three poputions the astal waters of the northeast pacific residents diets nsist priarily of fish and sotis squid， and they live plex and hesive faily groups called pods feale residents characteristically have rounded dorsal f tips that terate a sharp rner they visit the sa areas nsistently british bia and washgton resident poputions are aongst the ost tensively studied are aals anywhere the world resident orcas can be divided to at least three distct unities northern， southern and southern askan southern askan resident orcas are distributed fro southeastern a
ska to the kodiak archipego and nuber over 700 dividuals these whales nsist of o terbreedg cns distguished by atic calls and whose ranges overp the northern resident unity lives astal and nd waters fro southeastern aska to vanuver isnd it nsists of three cns and 16 pods and nuber over 300 orcas total the southern resident unity generally habits the nd waters of southern british bia and washgton， but can be found the outer waters off vanuver isnd， washgton， oregon and california they nsist of one cn and three pods， and nuber less than 80 dividuals and are listed as endangered
transient or biggs the diets of these orcas nsist alost excsively of are aals they live the sa areas as residents， but the o avoid each other transients generally travel sall groups， ually of o to six anials， and have less persistent faily bonds than residents transients vocalize less variable and less plex dialects feale transients are characterized by ore triangur and poted dorsal fs than those of residents the grey or white area around the dorsal f， known as the “saddle patch“， often ntas so bck lourg residents however， the saddle patches of transients are solid and uniforly grey transients roa widely along the ast so dividuals have been sighted both southern aska and california transients are also referred to as biggs orca honour of cetologist ichael bigg the ter has bee creasgly on and ay eventually repce the transient bel the transient etype is estiated to have diverged 700，000 years ago there are at least three different “stocks“ of transients off north arica， the at1 stock which ours fro pr
ce willia sound to kenai fjords， the gulf of askaaleutian isndsberg sea goaaibs stock and the west ast stock which ranges fro southeast aska to california at1 is nsidered a depleted stock it was affected by the exxon valdez oil spill and decled fro 22 dividuals to eight beeen 1989 and 2004 the goaaibs stock ay nuber around 500 whales while the west ast transients nuber over 320 orcas with over 200 along southeast aska， british bia and washgton and over 100 orcas off california california transients do not appear to tergle uch with those further north and west ast transients ay be divided to subunities
offshore a third popution of orcas the northeast pacific was disvered 1988， when a hupback whale researcher observed the open water as their na suggests， they travel far fro shore and feed priarily on schoolg fish however， becae they have rge， scarred and nicked dorsal fs reseblg those of aalhuntg transients， it ay be that they also eat aals and sharks they have ostly been enuntered off the west ast of vanuver isnd and near haida gwaii offshores typically ngregate groups of 20–75， with oasional sightgs of rger groups of up to 200 little is known about their habits， but they are geically distct fro residents and transients offshores appear to be saller than the others， and feales are characterized by dorsal f tips that are ntuoly rounded
separate fisheatg and aaleatg orca unities also exist off the ast of the rsian far east and hokkaido， japan rsian orcas are only seen around the kachatka pensu and ander isnds over 2，000 dividual residentlike orcas and 130 transientlike orcas have been ide
ntified off rsia at least 195 dividual orcas have been cataloged the eastern tropical pacific， rangg fro baja california and the gulf of california the north to the northwest ast of south arica the south and west towards hawaii orcas appear to regurly our off the galápagos isnds orcas sighted hawaiian waters ay belong to a greater popution the central pacific
north atntic and adjacent
orca tailsppg vestfjorden， norway
at least 15，000 whales are estiated to habit the north atntic the northeast atntic， o orca etypes have been proposed type 1 orcas nsist of seven haplotypes and cde herrgeatg orcas of norway and icend and ackereleatg orcas of the north sea， as well as sealeatg orcas off norway type 2 orcas nsist of o haplotypes， and aly feed on baleen whales
the diterranean sea， orcas are nsidered “visitors“， likely fro the north atntic， and sightgs bee less frequent further east however， a sall yearround popution exists the strait of gibraltar， which nubered around 39 2011 distct poputions ay also exist off the west ast of tropical africa， which have generalized diets
the northwest atntic popution is found yearround around brador and newfoundnd， while so dividuals seasonally travel to the waters of the eastern canadian arctic when the ice has lted sightgs of these whales have been docunted as far south as cape d and long isnd this popution is possibly ntuo with orcas sighted off greennd orcas are sighted yearround the caribbean sea， and an estiated 267 as of 2020 is docunted the northern gulf of xi
north dian ocea
over 50 dividual whales have been cataloge
d the northern dian ocean， cdg o dividuals that were sighted the persian gulf 2008 and off sri nka 2015
southern waters
orca beachg to capture sea lion at valdes pensu
a sall popution of orcas seasonally visits the northern pot of the valdes pensu on the east ast of argenta and hunt for sea lions and elephant seals on the shore， teporary strandg theselves off south africa， a distctive “fttooth“ orphotype exists and preys on sharks a pair of ale orcas， port and starboard， have bee well known for huntg great whites and other sharks off the south african ast
orcas our throughout the waters of atralia， new zeand and papua new guea they are sighted year round new zeand waters， while off atralia， they are seasonally ncentrated off the northwest， the shore waters of ngaloo reef， and the southwest， at the brer region geic evidence shows that the orcas of new zeand， and northwest and southwest atralia for three distct poputions new zeand orcas aly prey on sharks and rays
antarctic
around 25，000 orcas are estiated around the antarctic， and four types have been docunted o dwarf species， nad orc nan and orc gcialis， were described durg the 1980s by soviet researchers， but ost cetacean researchers are skeptical about their stat， and lkg these directly to the types described below is difficult
so exaples of variations orcas
type a or antarctic orcas look like a “typical“ orca， a rge， bckandwhite for with a diusized white eye patch， livg open water and feedg ostly on ke whales
type b1 or pack ice orcas are saller than type a it has a rge white eye patch ost
of the dark parts of its body are diu grey stead of bck， although it has a dark grey patch called a “dorsal cape“ stretchg back fro its forehead to jt behd its dorsal f the white areas are staed slightly yellow it feeds ostly on seals type b1 orca are abundant beeen adeide isnd and the and antarctic pensu
type b2 or gerche orcas are orphologically siir to type b1， but saller this etype has been rerded feedg on pengus and seals， and is often found the gerche strait
type c or ross sea orcas are the sallest etype and live rger groups than the others its eye patch is distctively snted forwards， rather than parallel to the body axis like type b， it is priarily white and diu grey， with a dark grey dorsal cape and yellowtged patches its only observed prey is the antarctic d
type d or subantarctic orcas were first identified based on photographs of a 1955 ass strandg new zeand and six atsea sightgs sce 2004 the first video rerd of this type was ade 2014 beeen the kerguelen and crozet isnds， and aga 2017 off the ast of cape horn， chile it is regnizable by its sall white eye patch， narrower and shorter than ual dorsal f， bulbo head siir to a pilot whale， and saller teeth its geographic range appears to be circuglobal subantarctic waters beeen titudes 40°s and 60°s although its diet is not detered， it likely cdes fish， as detered by photographs around longle vessels， where type d orcas appeared to be preyg on patagonian toothfish dissostich elegoides
types b and c live close to the ice， and diatos these waters ay be responsible for the yellowish lourg of both types itochondrial dna sequences s
upport the theory that these are recently diverged separate species ore recently， plete itochondrial sequencg dicates the types b and c be regnized as distct species， as should the north pacific transients， leavg the others as subspecies pendg additional data advanced thods that sequenced the entire itochondrial geno revealed systeatic differences dna beeen different poputions a 2019 study of type d orcas also found the to be distct fro other poputions and possibly even a unique species