Large Number Of Right Whales Spotted in Cape Cod Bay

Barnstable – The Center for Coastal Studies has determined that more than half the entire population of North Atlantic right whales have already visited Cape Cod Bay this season.

Researchers have identified 219 individual whales out of the estimated population of 411, and more than a third of the 411 whales was spotted in a single day on April 7.

That same day the first calf of the season was discovered.

The calf and its mother are one of only seven known mother/calf pairings of the season.

On Thursday, April 11 the Center for Coastal Studies right whale aerial survey team spotted two more North Atlantic right whale mom/calf pairs in Cape Cod Bay, bringing the number of calves observed in New England waters this year to three. 
 
The mothers have been identified as EgNo 4180  and EgNo 3317.
 
EgNo 4180 and her calf were sighted in the southern portion of the bay. EgNo 4180 was first seen by CCS in 2010, making her at least 9 years old, and she has been seen every year since then with the exception of 2015.
 
The last time she was seen was in late April 2018; although researchers were unaware that she was pregnant. Unfortunately at some point between then and summer 2018 she encountered gear and was seen with new entanglement wounds on her peduncle and back.
 
EgNo 4810 was first seen with her calf by a Florida park ranger from shore in February. Prior to this sighting her sex was unknown, so researches now have confirmation that she is female.
 
EgNo 3117 and her calf in the middle part of the bay. EgNo 3317 was born in late 2002 to EgNo 1817 (Silt), who was also sighted in Cape Cod Bay this season. Silt brought EgNo 3317 into Cape Cod Bay when she was a calf in 2003, but observers didn’t see her in the bay again until 2016, which happens to be the last time she had a calf.
 
EgNo 3117’s first calf, EgNo 3917, was born in 2009, and has been observed here nearly annually since 2011.
 
In 2017 CCS researchers documented EgNo 3317 outside of Cape Cod Bay, and last year (when she was pregnant) she was seen inside the bay between February and March. She was the second mom documented this season, and was first documented with her calf from a shore sighting in January.

 

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