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"For the first time in about 300 years a gray whale has been sighted outside the Pacific Ocean, a spectacle that has stunned scientists. The stray gray was spotted over the weekend in the Mediterranean off Israel, where it likely swam because of the melting Arctic sea ice.
"It's an unbelievable event which has been described as one of the most important whale sightings ever," said Aviad Scheinin, chairman of the Israel Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center, which identified the creature, Agence France-Presse writes. The whale was estimated to be about 40 feet long and weigh 200 tons."
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"The whale, which was first sighted off Herzliya in central Israel on Saturday, is believed to have traveled thousands of miles from the north Pacific after losing its way in search of food.
"This is sensational," Phillip Clapham of the U.S. National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle toldNew Scientist after hearing the news from marine biologists in Israel. "The most plausible explanation is that it came across an ice-free North-West Passage from the Pacific Ocean, and is now wondering where the hell it is."
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/05/stray-gray-whale-seen-off-israel-is-first-outside-pacific-in-300-years/1?csp=34(video at link)