The salmon hat craze was first observed in 1987 when a female orca in the Puget Sound area of the northeast Pacific was seen carrying a solitary dead fish on her nose. Within a few weeks the behavior was picked up by members of other pods, suggesting something about it must have appealed.

Researchers recently observed a killer whale (Orca) wearing dead salmon on their heads as hats, and believe it or not it's not the first time. It's something that the Orcas were doing back in the 1980s.

An especially popular killer whale put a dead fish on his head, in a throwback to a fashion last seen in the 1980s.

Though researchers have some best guesses, nobody seems to know for sure why exactly a killer whale in Washington state was wearing a dead fish as a hat.

Orca whales have been spotted wearing dead salmon as hats, simultaneously charming and confounding scientists around the world. On October 25, an Orca whale from a group of whales called the J pod was spotted with a dead salmon perched on top of its head as it swam through Puget Sound in Washington State, USA.

A pod of killer whales has revived a curious trend from the 1980s in which they swim around with dead salmon balanced on their heads.

About 40 years ago, researchers noticed a population of orcas had begun swimming around with dead fish on their heads, and now the craze is back

West Coast killer whales were last spotted sporting expired salmon in the 1980s, according to Live Science. After a nearly 40-year hiatus, whale watchers and scientists witnessed the resurrected fad last month off Point No Point in Kitsap County and in South Puget Sound.

The J-, K- and L-pods are down to just 73 orcas, according to the latest census completed in July by the Center for Whale Research, based in Friday Harbor, Washington. Two adult males were lost and a male calf that was born and counted in the census period subsequently died.

The fashionistas of the ocean have spoken, and it’s official -- salmon hats are making a comeback among orcas.