The gray whale, extirpated by hunting from the Atlantic Ocean in the 18th century, was spotted near Massachusetts last week, the nonprofit New England Aquarium announced Tuesday.
On Friday, aquarium officials were conducting an aerial survey when they spotted an animal, which they could not identify at first, diving and resurfacing. The team took photos for 45 minutes, and later confirmed that they had spotted a gray whale.
The team was thrilled with the discovery.
“My brain was trying to process what I was seeing, because this animal was something that should not really exist in these waters. We were laughing because of how wild and exciting this was—to see an animal that disappeared from the Atlantic hundreds of years ago,” Kate Laemmle, a research technician at the aquarium, said in the release.
After disappearing in the Atlantic during the 18th century, recovery efforts in existing Pacific Ocean populations eventually allowed individuals to make their way to other oceans. In the past 15 years, there have been five gray whale sightings in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
One of those sightings occurred near Miami in December 2023. Aquarium officials believe the whale spotted Friday to be the same individual.
Officials attribute these sightings to the effects of climate change melting enough Arctic ice to open up the Northwest Passage above and around North America in the summer, letting whales cross from the northern Pacific to the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
“These sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic serve as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance,” said Orla O’Brien, an associate research scientist at the aquarium.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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