Rare gray whale, extinct in the Atlantic for 200 years, spotted near Nantucket
A gray whale extinct from the Atlantic for more than 200 years was spotted off New England last week in an “incredibly rare event,” the New England Aquarium said.
A gray whale extinct from the Atlantic for more than 200 years was spotted off New England last week in an “incredibly rare event,” the New England Aquarium said.
The whale was spotted Friday 30 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, diving and resurfacing, appearing to feed, the aquarium said in a news release.
The aquarium’s aerial survey team circled the whale’s area for about 45 minutes and took photos, and it later confirmed it was indeed a rare 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, who was in the survey plane, said in a statement. “We were laughing because of how wild and exciting this was — to see an animal that disappeared from the Atlantic hundreds of years ago!”
Gray whales, which lack dorsal fins, have mottled grey and white skin, dorsal humps and pronounced ridges and are usually found in the North Pacific Ocean.
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