GRAMPUS (Orca gladiator, or Orca orca)  , a cetacean belonging to the Delphinidae or dolphin family, characterized by its rounded head without distinct beak, high dorsal fin and large conical teeth . The upper parts are nearly uniform glossy black, and the under parts white, with a strip of the same colour over each eye . The O . Fr. word was grapois, graspeis or craspeis, from Med . Lat. crassus piscis, fat fish . This was adapted into English as grapeys, graspeys, &c., and in the 16th century becomes graunde pose as if from grand poisson . The final corruption to " grampus " appears in the 18th century and was probably nautical in origin . The animal is also known as the " killer," in allusion to its ferocity in attacking its prey, which consists largely of seals, porpoises and the smaller dolphins . Its fierceness is only equalled by its voracity, which is such that in a specimen measuring 21 ft. in length, the remains of thirteen seals and thirteen porpoises were found, in a more or less digested state, while the animal appeared to have been choked in the endeavour to swallow another seal, the skin of which was found entangled in its teeth . These cetaceans sometimes hunt in packs or schools, and commit great havoc among the belugas or white whales, which occasionally throw themselves ashore to escape their persecutors . The grampus is an inhabitant of northern seas, occurring on the shores of Greenland, and having been caught, although rarely, as far south as the Mediterranean . There are numerous instances of its capture on the British coasts .