Rare Sighting of Bowhead Whale: Animal Spotted 1,000 Miles Outside Normal Range

A rare sighting of a bowhead whale was spotted Friday in Cape Cod Bay, approximately 1,000 miles outside of the animal's normal range, according to workers from the Provincetown, Mass.-based Center for Coastal Studies. The creature was identified during an aerial survey taken on April 11. This has been the second recorded spotting of a bowhead whale in history so far south in the Atlantic Ocean.

"This is yet another remarkable sighting in what has been a remarkable several years in our studies of Cape Cod Bay, said Dr. Charles Mayo, Director of the Center for Coastal Studies Right Whale Research program, via delhidailynews.com. "Two years ago we saw our first bowhead, an animal that should be 1000 miles from Cape Cod, then last year we saw the first calving of a right whale in Cape Cod waters, and now we have a bowhead again here, this time feeding with right whales. These observations along with extraordinary number of rare right whales in Cape Cod Bay seem to be pointing to profound changes in the coastal habitat, to which the whales are responding."

Sightings in colder waters of Maine or even New Hampshire are not unusual, according to CBS Boston. And though these whale have not typically been spotted in this region, the center said the animal is not in danger.

The first time a bowhead was spotted so far in the Atlantic has not been since 2012 off Orleans, Mass., according to The Boston Globe.