‘Dazzling’: 161 whales, including orca with tuna in its mouth, spotted off Mass. on the same day

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, Mass. — An aerial survey team recently spotted a whopping 161 whales in the water off Massachusetts on the same day.

The NOAA Fisheries New England/Mid-Atlantic says one of its whale teams saw “a dazzling array of sightings” comprising seven species south of Martha’s Vineyard and southeast of Nantucket.

Highlights included the team seeing 93 sei whales, one of the highest concentrations of sei whales ever seen during a single survey flight, according to the NOAA.

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Whales spotted in water off Mass. (NOAA Fisheries New England/Mid-Atlantic)

Spotters got a glimpse of two killer whales, including one that had a tuna in its mouth. They also saw 36 humpbacks, 21 fin whales, as well as minke, sperm, and North Atlantic right whales.

WhaleMap, a tool to collate and display whale survey results in near real-time, shows exactly where these whales were spotted.

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