Above: A GRAY WHALE SEEN SOUTH OF NANTUCKET ON MARCH 1, 2024. CREDIT: NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM

During an aerial survey last week, a team from the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium spotted a very usual whale for the Atlantic: a Gray Whale.

Gray whales went extinct in the Atlantic more than 200 years ago, and there have been only five sightings of them in the Atlantic in the last 15 years. It’s believed this one came through the Northwest passage, due to receding ice conditions.

After spotting the whale, the scientists suspected it might be a gray whale, and circled the area for 45 minutes to get photos every time it surfaced. They confirmed the ID after reviewing the photos. Gray whales lack a dorsal fin, a quality they share with the right whale, but gray whales have a lighter, mottled coloration compared to the black body of the right whales, which is what stood out to the team.

Gray whales are regularly seen in the North Pacific, but ice loss in the Arctic has allowed a few individuals to cross back to the Atlantic.

Read the full press release here. 

Other unusual whale sightings off Cape Cod in the last few years include a pod of orcas and the loner Old Thom in 2023, and a blue whale in 2020.