April 20, 2016 — Whale watchers spent the day yesterday in Nahant looking for Mr. Right.
A wayward North Atlantic right whale made a splash just off the shore for most of the afternoon.
The endangered species is known to hang out near Cape Cod Bay this time of year, according to Charles “Stormy” Mayo, senior scientist at the Center for Coastal Studies in Cape Cod and director of the right whale ecology program.
“Anytime a few whales go up the shore it’s really a special thing and a rare occasion,” he said. “Every time, in the case of the right whales, their travel depends on the concentration of food; they’re grazers.”
Mayo added he thinks the whale frolicking off Nahant is likely to return to the Cape, where there is the highest concentration of North Atlantic right whales. Fewer than 500 are thought to exist.