Rare gray whale spotted 200 years after extinction in Atlantic - NBC News

[TexasTowelie]

Scientists from the New England Aquarium spotted a gray whale swimming near the water of Nantucket, Massachusetts, for the first time in over 200 years. NBC News’ Gadi Schwartz talks to Biologist Jeff Corwin about the rare sighting and the first ever photos of humpback whales mating.

[Oopsie Daisy]

1. Gray whales are regularly found in the North Pacific Ocean *

https://www.neaq.org/about-us/press-room/press-releases/gray-whale-seen-in-southern-new-england-waters/

Gray whales are regularly found in the North Pacific Ocean and are easily distinguished from other whale species by their lack of a dorsal fin, mottled grey and white skin, and dorsal hump followed by pronounced ridges. The species disappeared from the Atlantic Ocean by the 18th century, but in the last 15 years, there have been five observations of gray whales in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, including off the coast of Florida in December 2023. Aquarium scientists believe the gray whale seen off New England this month is the same whale sighted in Florida late last year.

To explain the strange sightings, scientists point to 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 extent of the sea ice typically limits the species range of gray whales, experts say, as the whales cannot break through the thick winter ice that usually blocks the Passage. Now, gray whales can potentially travel the Passage in the summer, something that wouldn’t have been possible in the previous century.

[GreenWave]

2. Sometimes nature has wonderment

Manatees are common off the Coast of Costa Rica.