For the first time ever, North Atlantic right whales are seen in The Bahamas

BOSTON, MASS. (April 17, 2025) – In an extremely unusual sighting, divers have captured footage of two North Atlantic right whales in The Bahamas, the first time the species has ever been seen in this country.

**PHOTOS AND VIDEO AVAILABLE HERE. SEE CREDIT DETAILS IN FILE NAMES**

On April 15, Captain Isaac Ellis from Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Center was leading a dolphin watching tour off Bimini when the group encountered two right whales.

“That moment for me was breathtaking, and I couldn’t fully gather myself. I thought it was fake at first. Once in a lifetime moment for sure,” said Captain Isaac.

When videos of the sighting were shared with Dr. Diane Claridge, Executive Director of the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation (BMMRO) and long-time collaborator with the New England Aquarium, she knew to send the videos to scientists managing the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog. It took only moments for researchers from the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life to identify the right whales as two adult females known as “Koala” (Catalog #3940) and “Curlew” (Catalog #4190).

“In the past 30 years, BMMRO has documented 26 different marine mammal species in The Bahamas, and I’d always hoped we’d see a right whale here one day, given that we’re only 50 miles from Florida. As their numbers declined, I had given up hope, but these two surprised us all!” said Dr. Claridge.

Researchers in the Anderson Cabot Center have been following Koala and Curlew since their births in 2009 and 2011. The pair have been seen together for several months. The pair were first seen together off South Carolina by Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute on November 24. Since then, sightings from various sources have been compiled by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission showed the pair swimming south along Florida’s east coast past Cape Canaveral in mid-January. By early February, they had swum into the Gulf of Mexico, where they were seen off Alabama’s gulf coast, with occasional sightings along Florida’s panhandle and gulf coast since then.

“These two are really on quite the swim about!” said Philip Hamilton, senior scientist in the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center. “It is fairly unusual for right whales to be seen in the Gulf of Mexico, and there are no recorded sightings of right whales in The Bahamas. What inspired them to make this journey will likely remain a mystery.”

Most other right whales left the southeastern waters by late March, heading north toward northeastern feeding grounds, but Koala and Curlew lingered behind.

“Besides the unusual locations, it is also rare for two right whales to remain together for more than a few days unless it is a mother with her calf. Everything about this sighting is remarkable and exciting,” added Hamilton.

The North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog, which provides a rich history about these wandering whales, is a database of every photographed sighting of right whales in the North Atlantic. The Catalog has been a decades-long collaborative effort with sightings contributed by over 800 people and organizations from 1935 to the present. Contributions like this sighting by BMMRO are what allow the right whale research community to better understand this beleaguered species. With only around 370 North Atlantic right whales left alive due to threats from fishing gear entanglements, vessel strikes, and climate change, every whale sighting is important and valuable.

“These two whales are usually seen in Cape Cod Bay in April. Where they will be spotted next is anyone’s guess,” Hamilton said.

“As much as we enjoyed their visit to The Bahamas, I hope Koala and Curlew make their way back north safely,” Dr. Claridge added.

The public can look at WhaleMap, an online resource managed by the Aquarium, to track recent right whale sightings.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Pam Bechtold Snyder—617-686-5068; psnyder@neaq.org

Diane Claridge – 242-357-6666; dclaridge@bahamaswhales.org