Three killer whales were observed in a marine area separating the Italian peninsula and the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean, in the first such vision in small straits.
Marine biologists believe it is the same group that originally came from Iceland and was seen off the northwestern coast of Italy earlier this month.
Five deadly whales, orca-type, arrived off the port of Genoa in northern Italy in early December, and marine biologists soon determined that they were coming from Iceland, more than 5,200 km away.
A local fisherman saw the deadly fins of whales coming out of the water and pictures of them swimming alongside his boat. He told Reuters: "I came forward until we almost touched it ... Its presence here in the Strait of Messina is the best thing in my life."
"This is the first ever record of the migration of Orca whales between Iceland and Italy in the history of killer whale research, and we believe that more than 5,200 km of migration is among the longest recorded migration routes in the world," said Iceland's Whale Watchers Association.
The group included a calf whale (a small whale) believed to be about a year old, a tunnel at sea off Genoa, and video footage released by the Coast Guard showed the mother whale trying to carry a dead child before it finally gave up its carcass a few days later.