A wayward pair of female right whales took a 2,000-mile journey around Florida
A wayward pair of female right whales took a 2,000-mile journey around Florida A pair of North Atlantic right whales seen off Florida in the Gulf may be headed back north after being seen in Bimini in the Bahamas.
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Two right whales take rogue winter trip across the Gulf coast
Two female right whales traveled across the U.S. Gulf coast during the winter which is rare for the endangered whales, according to researchers.
After a 3-month long girls trip along Florida's Gulf Coast, a wayward pair of endangered North Atlantic right whales known as Curlew and Koala have finally wandered back to the Atlantic Ocean.
A group on a dolphin-watching trip from Neal Watson's Bimini Scuba Center saw the gal pals along the eastern edge of the Gulf Stream near Bimini, making the pair the first documented right whales ever seen in the Bahamas.
'That moment for me was breathtaking, and I couldn't fully gather myself," said Captain Isaac Ellis, who led the tour. "Once in a lifetime moment for sure.'
Each winter a contingent of whales, including pregnant females, juvenile whales and random male and female adult whales make their way south for calving season, migrating in the Atlantic from the waters off Nova Scotia and New England to the waters off Georgia and Florida.
This pair took a round trip adventure of about 2,000 miles, based on the reported sightings.
Researcher track sightings, monitor by air
Because North Atlantic right whales are critically endangered with only around 370 remaining, researchers track sightings and fly aerial monitoring surveys to document their locations.
Photographs are kept in a detailed photo catalog maintained by the New England Aquarium in a collaborative partnership with other organizations and agencies. Curlew and Koala, both about 40-feet long, have been tracked since their births in 2009 and 2011.
The pair were spotted last fall off the South Carolina coast, by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute on Nov. 24, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
They were seen again along the Southeast coast of Florida on Jan. 13, but then didn't pop up in sightings again until Feb. 2, when they were seen in the Gulf near the Florida-Alabama border.
It was only the fifth time since 2000 that right whales have been documented in the Gulf, according to the New England Aquarium.
After several scattered sightings along the Florida Panhandle over about nine days in early February, the wayward whales next turned up in sightings off St. Petersburg Beach. Researchers hoped the whales were heading southward to round Florida back into the Atlantic. However, they turned up along the Panhandle again in early April, near Seaside.
Other right whales with their recently born calves already were being seen on feeding grounds off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
On April 5, Curlew and Koala were seen as far west in the Gulf as Navarre Beach. Then less than a week later, they were seen roughly 300 miles to the southeast off St. Petersburg Beach on April 11.
Traveling faster than a boat
Daniel Mosley and his wife LaShay were out with a friend in their boat about a half-mile from shore near Pass-a-Grille Beach when they spotted the pair.
"We were just shocked," Mosley said. "We were like no way those are whales right there." They were in water only about 20-25 feet deep, Mosley said, according to his depth chart. The large animals were stirring up sand off the bottom leaving a little trail behind them as they swam.
Just as astounding to Mosley was how fast the whales turned up in Bimini, a distance of more than 400 miles depending on their route.
"It really surprised me that four days after we saw them, they were in Bimini," he said. "I couldn't get around the peninsula of Florida in a boat that quick."
Inspiration for journey 'will likely remain a mystery'
The whales, which typically swim an average of 1-3 mph, likely moved in the Florida current, which pulls warmer waters from the Gulf through the Straits of Florida and into the Gulf Stream.
'These two are really on quite the swim-about!' said Philip Hamilton, senior scientist in the New England Aquarium's Anderson Cabot Center. "What inspired them to make this journey will likely remain a mystery."
'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,' Hamilton said.
After Ellis and his passengers saw the whales off Bimini, they shared the videos with the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organization, which then conferred with the Aquarium to confirm the identities of the two whales. Over 30 years, the Bahamas research group had documented 26 different marine mammal species, according to Executive Director Diane Claridge. She had always hoped they'd see a right whale one day, since they are as close as 50 miles to Florida.
"As their numbers declined, I had given up hope, but these two surprised us all!' Claridge said. 'As much as we enjoyed their visit to The Bahamas, I hope Koala and Curlew make their way back north safely."
WhaleMap, an online resource managed by the Aquarium, allows the public to monitor whale sightings. Anyone who sees a whale, is asked to report it to 877-WHALE-HELP, stay at least 500 yards away and go no faster than 10 knots when the whales are nearby.
Only 11 right whale mother and calf pairs were documented during the winter birthing season that just wrapped up. The Center for Coastal Studies, in Provincetown, Massachusetts just documented the 11th pair, Monarch and her calf, off Barnstable, Massachusetts.
The number of calves born this season is well short of the 20 that scientists say is needed for a productive season, and far below the 50 calves per season needed to rebuild the population, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The whales face a number of human-related threats including warmer oceans, entanglements in rope and fishing gear and collisions with boats.
Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate change, wildlife and the environment for USA TODAY. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Mama sea creatures spotted off CA coast with babies. See ‘exciting encounter'
A 'sweet family' of sea creatures was spotted off the coast of California, and onlookers are calling it an 'exciting encounter.' On June 2, watchers got the chance to see a killer whale known as the 'strong matriarch Louise' along with her 'beloved' daughters known as CA140Bs, according to a Facebook post by Monterey Bay Whale Watch. The mama has done an 'amazing job' raising her babies, and onlookers even got the chance to see the 'new little' additions to the pod, the group said. Louise's daughter Stinger has her own calves, which makes them a family of six, onlookers said. The pod was also seen 'zigzagging,' the whale watching group said. Photos show the orcas swimming among one another, with some shots of what looks like a baby cuddling up to its mama. The group can be seen coming up for air at the same time. Although onlookers aren't sure if they were in search of prey or just playing with one another, it was a 'delight' for passengers, the group said. Near the end of the spotting, the pod was seen swimming at 'high speeds, crashing through the swell,' officials said. Orcas are highly social ocean predators that live and travel in groups, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 'Killer whales rely on underwater sound to feed, communicate, and navigate,' according to NOAA. 'Pod members communicate with each other through clicks, whistles and pulsed calls.' Along with the tight-knit orca pod, whale watching groups got the chance to see eight humpback whales, 65 Risso's dolphins and five pacific white-sided dolphins, the group said. Monterey is about a 120-mile drive southeast from San Francisco.
Miami Herald
4 hours ago
- Miami Herald
‘Stunning' sea creatures seen breaching off England, video shows. ‘Unforgettable'
Boaters off the coast of England recently spotted a pod of Risso's dolphins leaping from the surface in what was described as an 'unforgettable experience.' The encounter took place on May 30 near Falmouth, a coastal town in Cornwall, according to a Facebook post from AK Wildlife Cruises Falmouth, a local boat tour agency. In a video posted by the group, the marine mammals can be seen repeatedly breaching the turquoise waves, sending white water flying. It was 'nothing short of breathtaking,' the post said. 'This incredibly playful pod treated us to a stunning display: breaching, head slapping, lunging — the full repertoire!' the tour group added. 'It was a magical, unforgettable experience for our guests, one of those rare moments that remind us just how special our coastal waters are.' Risso's dolphins — also referred to as gray dolphins — are present throughout warm and topical stretches of Earth's oceans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The robust-bodied animals can grow up to 13 feet long and weigh up to 1,100 pounds. They are known to live in groups numbering up to 30 individuals and largely feed on octopus and squid, according to the Wildlife Trusts, a U.K. charity organization. Typically, they are only found in 'deep, offshore waters.' With that said, sightings around the U.K. aren't uncommon, with many of them taking place around Scotland.
Miami Herald
4 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Hurricane season is no joke to Floridians, Mr. FEMA director
The 2025 hurricane season is under way, but its start became a cringe-inducing moment for Floridians. Acting FEMA Director David Richardson, named in early May to run the crucial national disaster management agency, reportedly said he was surprised to learn that the U.S. has a hurricane season. That's according news reports based on staffers present at a briefing on Monday to discuss the hurricane season, which runs from June 1-Nov. 30. A Homeland Security spokesperson quickly tried to clean up the situation, saying Richardson was just joking. Maybe so, but that's one clunker of a joke down here in the hurricane zone. Floridians live nervously every year through an increasingly scary hurricane season. We know there's nothing to laugh about, especially considering the most recent batch of more intense and wetter hurricanes. So as Florida prepares for yet another active hurricane season, Richardson, head of the top emergency rescue agency, thinks it's amusing to feign ignorance about the season's very existence. This year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we have reason to worry. This hurricane season activity is expected to be above normal, with 13 to 19 named storms and three to five major hurricanes predicted. Blame a confluence of factors, including warmer than average ocean temperatures, forecasts for weak wind shear and the potential for higher activity from the West African Monsoon, a primary starting point for Atlantic hurricanes. All of these elements tend to favor tropical storm formation, the agency said in a news release. Back to Richardson's disturbing 'joke.' He's a former Marine and Homeland Security official with no experience in emergency management and who is stepping into a battered FEMA. The agency has lost a quarter of its workforce. Richardson's predecessor, Cameron Hamilton, was forced out after expressing public support for FEMA's mission — an apparent contradiction to President Donald Trump's stance on reducing the size of the agency. Under the Trump administration's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' there are plans to cut $646 million from FEMA and reduce its long-term disaster recovery programs, with responsibility shifting to states. And yet Richardson reportedly told employees FEMA should handle this year's hurricanes the same way it did last year. 'The FEMA system is a broken system that, when fixed, will return power to state emergency management directors and make America safe again,' Homeland Security head, Kristi Noem, recently told a Congressional panel. Noem runs FEMA. However, critics on the panel warned that the cuts would weaken disaster readiness and shift an unsustainable burden to local governments. Also, Floridians know there can be drawbacks to a local response: When an entire area is hit hard by a hurricane, we are all incapacitated, including the local government. At those times, we need federal aid via FEMA, parachuted in and self-sustaining. Richardson may have been joking, but who will the joke be on if 'the Big One' strikes Florida? Click here to send the letter.
