Even if there is more and more evidence that the taxon is actually a single species, in fact it is a complex of multiple forms with morphological, genetic, ecological and behavioral differences. Even if it is not a species name, it should have subspecies. the value of. At the time of writing (June 2017), the Marine Mammalogy's Taxonomy Committee is considered the authority on marine mammal taxonomy and recognized the single killer whale species "Orcinus orca" (Linnaeus, 1758) and two unnamed subspecies in the eastern North Pacific, namely the eastern Pacific resident whale (O. o. un-named subsp.). The O. o. un-named subsp. of the Eastern Pacific Ocean is also known as the "big killer whal" (Bigg’s killer whal). However, the Marine Mammal Society noted: “Other forms of killer whales in the North Pacific, North Atlantic, and southern Antarctic oceans may need to be recognized as separate subspecies or even species, but the classification has not been fully clarified or agreed. According to 2003 In the “Canada Endangered Species Act”, a population of the “southern resident” population of the subspecies of origin in the eastern North Pacific is listed as an “endangered species” in the 2005 “Endangered Species Act” of the United States.
As of 2017, the defined and recognized taxon is the killer whale ("Marine Mammal Society" 2017), which does not meet any criteria for threatened status in the IUCN Red List. Killer whales are abundant in numbers (at least thousands of mature individuals) and are widely distributed. Experts agree that the taxa may include more than one subspecies and may include multiple species. It is known that the population of some small areas has fallen sharply, and if assessed separately, it will be easy to obtain threatened status (for example, ENP species, the number of bluefin tuna-dependent killer whales related to the Strait of Gibraltar), but there is not enough evidence to support it The global decline in the abundance of killer whale species has brought it into compliance with Standard A. However, the statement in the previous species assessment (Taylor et al., 2013) is still valid: “The combination of potential decline driven by the depletion of prey resources and the impact of pollutants, it is believed that for some may eventually be designated as killer whales The "group" of species cannot be ruled out the possibility of a global reduction of 30% in three generations."
Although people continue to work hard to better understand the taxonomy of killer whales, the taxonomy problem has not been completely resolved. This is especially problematic due to the possibility of congenital, non-mating ecotypes in the eastern North Pacific, Antarctica and elsewhere. Due to the uncertainty of taxonomy, this taxon was previously listed as "insufficient data" by IUCN, and should continue to be listed until the appropriate taxon is described and can be evaluated on the Red List.