A day after a new record sighting of North Atlantic right whales was recorded in Cape Cod Bay, a female whale was found dead in the area Thursday, striking another blow to the endangered species.
"We lost one today," said Charles "Stormy" Mayo, right whale habitat expert at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown.
For much of the day, researchers believed the dead animal was a right whale calf.
Only four North Atlantic right whale calves have been documented in this winter's calving season. By early evening, however, the size of the cetacean indicated she was likely an adult.
"It looks too big to be a calf," Mayo said in a phone interview after the whale had been removed from the water at Northside Marina in Sesuit Harbor. "I'm inclined to think it's not a calf."
Since
there are only 524 North Atlantic right whales in the world, the death of any member of this species is concerning for researchers, Mayo said. That this one was a female is particularly worrisome, he said.