Blue whale makes waves

Rare sighting off Gloucester coast

Researchers photographed a 70- to 80-foot adult blue whale Sunday that appeared to be feeding. (Whale Center of New England)

Researchers spotted a rare adult blue whale this weekend that appeared to be feeding 15 miles off the coast of Gloucester.

The whale appeared to be about 70 to 80 feet long as it dove repeatedly to eat what biologists assumed were a dense swarm of krill, a small shrimp-like crustacean. Blue whales typically live in colder waters off Canada, Norway, and Iceland and rarely come so close to shore.

"I've been working on the water here 30 years and I've only seen blue whales 10 times," said Mason Weinrich, executive director and chief scientist at The Whale Center of New England. "When we realized it was a blue whale, it was quite exciting."

Six whale biologists were aboard the Whale Center's 42-foot research vessel The Mysticete Sunday morning when they saw the blue whale near a dozen humpbacks.

The scientists spent 45 minutes photographing both sides of the massive mammal, which has distinctive pigment patterns.

Researchers plan to contribute the photographs to an oceanwide catalog coordinated by Canadian scientists that has identified 300 individual blue whales.

The largest mammals in the world, blue whales can grow to more than 100 feet.

Their great size made them targets for whalers, causing them to become an endangered species by the 1930s. Scientists estimate that there are fewer than 10,000 blue whales in the world.

The first recorded sighting of a blue whale off New England was in 1981.

In September 2002, five different blue whales were seen during a two-week period.

Last fall, three different blue whales were seen off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire.