Rare gray whale sighting off New England coast attributed to ice-free Northwest Passage
"My brain was trying to process what I was seeing, because this animal was something that should not really exist in these waters."
The whale was located by a team from the New England Aquarium.
Researchers conducting an aerial survey off the coast of New England last week sighted a rare gray whale, which has been considered extinct in the Atlantic Ocean for more than 200 years.
The New England Aquarium aerial survey team was flying about 30 miles south of Nantucket, an island off Cape Cod, Mass., on March 1, when they saw an "unusual" whale repeatedly diving and surfacing, appearing to be feeding. The plane circled the location for 45 minutes to capture photos.
After analyzing the photos, the researchers confirmed it was a gray whale. The species is distinctive for its lack of dorsal fin, instead featuring a dorsal hump as well as mottled gray and white skin.
A gray whale seen south of Nantucket on March 1, 2024. (Credit New England Aquarium)
“I didn’t want to say out loud what it was because it seemed crazy,” Orla O’Brien, associate research scientist in the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said in a statement. O'Brien, who has been flying aerial surveys since 2011, showed the photos to Research Technician Kate Laemmle, who was also in 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,” said Laemmle. “We were laughing because of how wild and exciting this was—to see an animal that disappeared from the Atlantic hundreds of years ago!”
Although gray whales are commonly seen in the North Pacific Ocean, they disappeared from the Atlantic in the 18th century, in part due to heavy whaling at the time, according to the aquarium. In the last 15 years, however, there have been five sightings of gray whales in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters.
Researchers believe the whale they saw was the same whale spotted off the coast of Florida in December 2023.
Scientists say the gray whales likely made their way back to the Atlantic through the Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific through the Arctic Ocean. Due to rising global temperatures, the Northwest Passage has been free of ice during the summer in recent years, allowing whales to travel through it for the first time.
“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.”
TMX contributed to this report
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