In a two-minute hunt, a lone orca kills a great white shark, raising concerns about ecological shift: Video
Snapshots of the video of the attack.
In an "astonishing" attack, seen for the first time, a solitary killer whale or orca was filmed hunting and then killing a great white shark.
The scientists called the hunt "unprecedented" and said that it displayed the exceptional predatory skills of killer whales.
For some time, two orcas were observed hunting and killing sharks together, which included great white sharks. "But this caught us off guard," shark biologist Dr Alison Towner said.
Dr Towner, who belongs to Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, has been studying the animals for many years.
A detailed account of their observations after the attack was published by Dr Towner and her colleagues.
As per the scientists, the attack was "solo and swift". In just two minutes, the shark was killed by the male killer and its liver was consumed.
How orcas attacked the shark?
It was reported by the scientists that the animals, nicknamed Port and Starboard on the basis of their dorsal fins which are bent in opposite directions, "exhibited a predilection for extracting and consuming the sharks' livers".
"During the attacks, the sharks would tightly circle the killer whales, in a desperate attempt to avoid predation," Dr Towner said.
Speaking to BBC News, Marine mammal scientist Dr Luke Rendell from the University of St Andrews said that it is "a really beautiful observation" of the behaviour.
Watch:All you need to know about killer whales
"It's interesting that it's just one animal. A great white shark is a nice, big concentration of food, so it's perhaps unsurprising that some populations [of orcas], where these sharks occur in sufficient numbers, have learned to exploit that," he said.
The study's co-author Dr Primo Micarelli, who also witnessed the attack, said that the orca carried the liver of a great white shark across the vessel.
“Despite my awe for these predators, I’m increasingly concerned aboutthe coastal marine ecology balance," Micarelli said.
(With inputs from agencies)