A gray whale that was said to have been extinct in the Atlantic Ocean for more than 200 years was seen near Nantucket, an island in Massachusetts, last week. The sighting was confirmed by the New England Aquarium, which said that it was an incredibly rare event and that it could be linked to climate change.
The gray whale was spotted by an aerial survey team from the aquarium on March 1, about 30 miles south of Nantucket. The team said that they observed the whale for about 45 minutes and took photos to identify it.
One of the people on the plane, Kate Laemmle who is a research technician, described how she felt when they confirmed that it was indeed an animal they thought had gone extinct years ago.
“My brain was trying to process what I was seeing, because this animal was something that should not really exist in these waters. 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 are normally found in the North Pacific Ocean, where they migrate between their feeding grounds in the Arctic and their breeding grounds in Mexico. They were once abundant in the Atlantic Ocean, but they were hunted to extinction by the 18th century, mainly by European whalers.
However, in the past 15 years, there have been five reported sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, including one in Florida in December 2023. Scientists believe that these whales may have crossed from the Pacific to the Atlantic through the Northwest Passage, a route that connects the two oceans through the Arctic Ocean in Canada.
According to them, the Northwest Passage has been ice-free in the summer in recent years, partly due to rising global temperatures caused by climate change. This may have allowed the gray whales to travel through the passage, something that would not have been possible in the previous century.
Scientists also speculate that the gray whales may be looking for new food sources, as their usual prey, such as amphipods and krill, may be affected by the warming waters.
The press release issued by the New England Aquarium says,
“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. These sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic serve as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance.”
