Gray Whale, EXTINCT in Atlantic over 200 years, Reappeared off the Nantucket’s Coast
The New England Aquarium has shared new photos of a rare gray whale off the coast of Nantucket that they believe was previously spotted in Florida last December.
The gray whale, which has been extinct from the Atlantic ocean for more than two centuries, was spotted 30 miles off the coast of Nantucket last Friday.
The aquarium sent out an aerial media team to circle the whale and take phots for 45 minutes to confirm it was indeed a gray whale.
‘My brain was trying to process what I was seeing, because this animal was something that should not really exist in these waters,’ research technician Kate Laemmle said in a statement posted by the aquarium.
‘We were laughing because of how wild and exciting this was — to see an animal that disappeared from the Atlantic hundreds of years ago!’
The gray whale, which has been extinct from the Atlantic ocean for more than two centuries, was spotted 30 miles off the coast of Nantucket last Friday.
The whale, which can weigh 60,000 pounds, typically lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.
There have been five observations of the animal in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters in the last 15 years
Although gray whales typically live in the northern Pacific Ocean, this one looked awfully familiar to researchers at the aquarium.
The aquarium hypothesized that the whale pictured this month was likely the same animal spotted off the coast of Florida late last year.
While gray whales disappeared from the Atlantic during the 18th century, over the last 15 years, there have been five observations of the animal in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, the aquarium said in a statement.
Scientists said the whale’s migration was probably indicative of the effects of climate change.
‘The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean in Canada, has regularly been ice-free in the summertime in recent years, partly due to rising global temperatures,’ the aquarium said.
This means that more gray whales could potentially travel the Northwest Passage during the summer when normally they would have been blocked.
Scientists attribute the whale’s unusual migration to climate change.
O’Brien, an associate research scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said the animal’s arrival off New England serves ‘as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance.’
So how can you tell a gray whale apart from its counterparts?
Unlike the humpback whale, which is more commonly sighted in New England, gray whales can be identified by their lack of a dorsal fin and mottled appearance.
They also sound different; gray whales make gurgles, grunts and croaks while humpback wales produce what is known as ‘songs’ as it is reminiscent of human vocals.
While they were almost hunted into extinction as a result of commercial whaling, the International Union for Conservation of Nature considers the species to be at a point of ‘least concern’ as they have recovered in population.
However, the western population of whales that lives off Asia is considered to be endangered by the organization.
The gray whale can weigh up to 60,000 pounds, comparable to that of a humpback.
