A false killer whale is spotted in Nantong. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

A special group of guests recently visited the coastal waters of the offshore wind farm in Rudong, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province.

Experts said that based on their appearance, they highly resemble a member of the dolphin family - the false killer whale.

A staff member from the Nantong Environmental Monitoring Center said that the abundant food resources, suitable water depth, good environment, and minimal human disturbances are the main reasons why false killer whales linger and inhabit in the nearshore waters.

The false killer whale is a nationally protected second-level wild animal and listed as a near-threatened species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Endangered Species.

They are distributed in all major oceans of the world except the Arctic Ocean, mainly living in warm temperate to tropical waters worldwide. They are found in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan waters, but are primarily located in offshore areas. Continuous observations of large groups in nearshore waters are very rare. It seems that the Nantong waters have become a preferred "summer stop" for these false killer whales, as they have been arriving every June for several consecutive years.

This sea area where they freely roam is the Rudong 800MW offshore wind power project. As an important base for green energy, this project has an annual grid-connected electricity output of 2.4 billion kilowatt-hours, enough to meet the annual electricity consumption of about 1 million households.