A species of whale that has been extinct from the Atlantic Ocean for over 200 years was seen off the coast of Nantucket by researchers at the New England Aquarium on the first day of March.
The massive animal, identified as a gray whale, was seen diving and resurfacing to feed in the water about 30 miles south of Nantucket, an aerial survey team reported. The Aquarium scientists’ plane circled the area for 45 minutes to take pictures and confirm the species.
The scientists called the sighting “exciting” and “crazy,” as the whales disappeared from the Atlantic Ocean by the 18th century, according to the Aquarium.
Their markings are easily distinguishable from other species because they do not have a dorsal fin, but do boast mottled gray and white skin and a dorsal hump with pronounced ridges.
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“I didn’t want to say out loud what it was, because it seemed crazy,” Orla O’Brien, an associate research scientist who’s been flying in aerial surveys since 2011, and works in the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the Aquarium, said.
During the flight on March 1, O’Brien showed the pictures she took of the whale while it was diving to Kate Laemmle, a research technician on the plane.
“My brain was trying to process what I was seeing, because this animal was something that should not really exist in these waters,” Laemmle said. “We were laughing because of how wild and exciting this was — to see an animal that disappeared from the Atlantic hundreds of years ago!”
Over the last 15 years, there have been five sightings of gray whales in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic’s waters. They’re regularly found in the North Pacific Ocean. But the March 1 sighting is believed to be the same whale spotted just months ago off the coast of Florida in December 2023.
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The scientists believe the sightings are due to climate change.
The Northwest Passage is a body normally filled with thick sea ice that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean in Canada. Gray whales can’t normally break through the barrier.
But rising global temperatures are a partial factor in an ice-free Passage during the summer months, which allows the whales to travel through, the researchers said.
“This sighting highlights how important each survey is. While we expect to see humpback, right, and fin whales, the ocean is a dynamic ecosystem, and you never know what you’ll find,” O’Brien said.
“These sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic serve as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance,” the researcher added.
The gray whale’s presence comes after a female juvenile from the North Atlantic right whale population, a critically endangered species, washed up dead on Martha’s Vineyard in January.
The lobster fisheries in Maine have been under fire from activists and organizations across the nation for its potential role in the whale’s death.