Mystery of the roaming gray whale continues

The gray whale which had experts scratching their heads after making the first ever documented appearance by the species in the Mediterranean basin (off the coast of Israel), continues to cause intrigue almost a month later by popping up off the coast of north-eastern Spain. On the 10th May 2010, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) reported on the sighting of a gray whale off Herzliya Marina, Israel, which either marked the return of the North Atlantic gray whale (previously thought to be extinct for hundreds of years), or that the whale in question had shattered all previous records for the longest migration by the species. As if the sighting of this whale so far from its usual habitat wasn’t puzzling enough, the mystery continues with the first glimpse of the same whale 23 days and 3,000km later off the coast of Spain! On 30th May 2010, the sighting of a gray whale in front of Barcelona harbour was made by members of SUBMON, an NGO dedicated to developing studies related to the conservation and assessment of marine habitats. Pictures from the sighting were compared with the ones taken by from IMMRAC on May 8th 2010 in Israeli waters by Manuel Castellote at the National Marine Mammal Lab (AFSC-NMFS-NOAA). These comparisons confirmed the match. The animal was last seen heading south (towards the Straits of Gibraltar) and researchers are now on high alert for any further sightings. WDCS species programme lead, Nicola Hodgins said; "It's wonderful news to hear of a re sighting of this animal, where it's heading is the burning question! Its likely route would be to leave the Mediterranean, and then head north along the coasts of Portugal and France, possibly coming as far north as the UK and North Atlantic waters". The mystery surrounding this animal continues. Where did it originally come from? What is it eating? Where is it going? Any sightings of a large whale with a mottled grey skin colour and no dorsal fin should be reported to WDCS, ideally accompanied with photographs of the underside of the tail (which it will raise on diving) for comparisons purposes. For more information on the Gray whale click here; http://www2.wdcs.org/species/species.php?sp=Eschrichtius_robustus -Ends-