Endangered deep-sea creature and baby surprise experts near Cape Cod. See them swim
.jpg "The creatures were spotted off the coast of New England, aquarium scientists said.")
Scientists were conducting a routine aerial survey off the coast of Cape Cod recently when a special duo caught their eyes.
It was an endangered adult sperm whale and calf, according to an Oct. 26 news release from the New England Aquarium. The creatures were spotted during an aerial survey over the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument — which is about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod.
The Oct. 19 sighting marks the first time scientists have spotted the species in their six years of surveys in the area, the aquarium said in its release.
“As scientists who have flown aerial surveys for years, we never take for granted how exciting it is to see whales, sharks, and dolphins in the wild, particularly an endangered sperm whale calf,” Sharon Hsu, a research technician with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said in the release.
During their survey, experts said they also spotted 117 bottlenose dolphins, four fin whales, 27 Risso’s dolphins, two humpback whale, 15 ocean sunfish, 150 common dolphins, one True’s beaked whale, four other beaked whales and another sperm whale.
Sperm whales are “the largest of the toothed whales and have one of the widest global distributions of any marine mammal species,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The endangered species lives in all deep oceans.
The massive sea creatures are usually dark gray, but they can sometimes have white patches on their bellies, NOAA experts said. They have asymmetric blowholes located on the side of their “extremely large” heads.
Male sperm whales can be up to 52 feet and weigh 45 tons while females can be 40 feet and up to 15 tons, according to NOAA.
Experts from the aquarium said they could not confirm if the calf belonged to the adult whale it was seen swimming with.
“Sperm whales exhibit maternal-like interactions, meaning that adults other than the mother may occasionally take care of calves, including nursing them, so the adult whale spotted may not have been the calf’s mother,” scientists said in the release.
This story was originally published October 26, 2023 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Endangered deep-sea creature and baby surprise experts near Cape Cod. See them swim."
