Extinct for 200 years: Gray whale reappears off the Atlantic coast

Whales have been hunted commercially for centuries and their meat is still considered a delicacy in several Asian countries. Numerous species are now threatened with extinction; for example, the gray whale population has been completely wiped out in the Atlantic Ocean.

The reason is also the use of other “products” from the animals, such as using their fat for lamp oil or removing their jaw horns for special supports for crinolines. A team of marine researchers has now unexpectedly spotted a whale off Massachusetts that is thought to have been extinct for 200 years.

“My brain was somehow trying to process what I had seen, because this animal was something that really shouldn’t exist in these waters,” explains Kate Laemmle, who was aboard the expedition plane over the North Atlantic Ocean , in a press statement. Gray whales effectively disappeared completely from the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the 18th century.

The species is distributed in the eastern Pacific and western Pacific. While the former are still reproducing sufficiently, the animals in the western Pacific are threatened with extinction. The main reason for this is the widespread oil drilling in their habitats.

What is striking about the appearance of gray whales is that their entire body is covered in encrusted barnacles and whale lice. Researchers can also recognize them by the fact that they have multiple bumps on their back instead of a dorsal fin.

The team from the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life spotted the gray whale during one of their regular expedition flights over the North Atlantic Ocean. Photos posted on social media show the tail fin, known to be a fluke, disappearing under the sea.

From the air it was clearly visible how the whale repeatedly emerged from the water. Last December, a gray whale was unexpectedly discovered in Florida. According to the Anderson Cabot Center, the current discovery could be the same animal.

Experts cite global warming as the reason for the unusual finds. Due to rising temperatures, the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean is now largely ice-free in the summer. Pacific whales often swim hundreds of kilometers across the Arctic into the Atlantic Ocean.

In the past, gray whales were popular for hunting, mainly because of their so-called baleens. The jaw horns can be used to support crinolines or umbrellas.

As early as 1986, the whale catch quota was generally set at zero. Several indigenous peoples still engage in this hunting, but under no circumstances should they benefit economically from it.