Dolphin watchers off Bimini, The Bahamas, were amazed when they came across a pair of North Atlantic right whales – a species which has never been seen in the country before.
“That moment for me was breathtaking, and I couldn’t fully gather myself,” says Captain Isaac Ellis from Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Center who was leading the dolphin watching tour when they saw the two whales. “I thought it was fake at first.”
The group took videos of the sighting, which they shared with the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation (BMMRO) to identify what they had seen.
“In the past 30 years, BMMRO has documented 26 different marine mammal species in The Bahamas,” says BMMRO’s executive director Dr. Diane Claridge. “I’d always hoped we’d see a right whale here one day, given that we’re only 50 miles from Florida. As their numbers declined, I had given up hope, but these two surprised us all!”
With fewer than 400 adults left on Earth, North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are critically endangered.
Once found widely across the North Atlantic, these baleen whales were decimated by whaling – they were seen as the 'right whales' to hunt. They are now found mainly along the eastern USA and Atlantic Canada. Although some individuals have been found in other countries, including Norway, France and even Ireland, this is the first time they have been recorded in The Bahamas.
What inspired them to make this journey will likely remain a mystery,” says Philip Hamilton, senior scientist in the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life. “These two are really on quite the swim about!”
Claridge had sent the videos to Hamilton and his team because they manage the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalogue – a database of every right whale photographed in the North Atlantic. According to the Aquarium, it took them “only moments” to identify the pair as two females called Koala and Curlew.
The researchers have been tracking these females since they were born, in 2009 and 2011 respectively. They have been together since November 2024. They were first spotted off South Carolina, then swam south along Florida’s eastern coastline into the Gulf of Mexico.
“Besides the unusual locations, it is also rare for two right whales to remain together for more than a few days unless it is a mother with her calf. Everything about this sighting is remarkable and exciting,” says Hamilton.
“These two whales are usually seen in Cape Cod Bay in April. Where they will be spotted next is anyone’s guess,” says Hamilton.
Main image: Jero Prieto/Pelagic Life
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