May 16, 2018 — Scientists from the New England Aquarium have concluded that the endangered North Atlantic right whales spotted swimming and feeding off the coast of York County last weekend were not the same animal.
Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium, which catalogs all right whales, said in a telephone interview Tuesday evening that the scientists used photographs to confirm that the right whale photographed off Long Sands Beach in York was right whale No. 1409.
A North Atlantic right whale spotted off the coast of Wells was a different whale, according to LaCasse.
The York whale is a male born in 1984. Its mother was known as No. 1160. Her death was confirmed in 2005 after her carcass was found floating offshore.
Whale No. 1409 “is definitely an adult male whose length is estimated at 45 feet and weighs around 90,000 pounds,” LaCasse said, dispelling reports from untrained observers that the whale was a juvenile. “The photograph was outstanding.”
Some right whales are assigned names. LaCasse said there is a right whale named Van Halen because the pattern on its forehead looks like an electric guitar.
Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald