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Tag: rare sighting

  • ‘Deep-diving’ sea creatures surface in ‘rare sighting’ off New England coast

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    Three marine creatures were seen from the sky off the coast of New England in October, according to the New England Aquarium.

    Three marine creatures were seen from the sky off the coast of New England in October, according to the New England Aquarium.

    Screengrab from the New England Aquarium on Facebook

    In a “rare sighting” from the sky, three “deep-diving” sea creatures surfaced in the Atlantic Ocean in mid-October, the New England Aquarium said.

    The aquariums said its aerial survey team spotted three True’s beaked whales, a species “rarely seen at the surface,” while above the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of New England. The aquarium shared a photo of the unique sighting on Facebook.

    True’s beaked whales are small- to medium-sized and can reach lengths of 15.5 to 17.5 feet, weighing up to 3,000 pounds, when they are adults, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are one of several beaked whale species.

    The whales live in the North Atlantic Ocean, as well as two locations in the Southern Hemisphere, NOAA reports online.

    “There is little information on the abundance of True’s beaked whales worldwide,” NOAA says.

    True’s beaked whales are known to dive as deep as nearly 10,000 feet while searching for food, according to NOAA.

    Their diet mostly consists of squid, and sometimes fish, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

    During the sighting of the True’s beaked whales, the New England Aquarium said its aerial team saw more than 700 marine animals, “including 402 common dolphins and seven fin whales,” over the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

    This large stretch of ocean, about 130 miles from Cape Cod, is rich in biodiversity and has four underwater mountains as well as three underwater canyons, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

    It was presidentially recognized as a national monument in 2016.

    Julia Marnin

    McClatchy DC

    Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.

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    Julia Marnin

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  • ‘Deep-diving’ sea creatures surface in ‘rare sighting’ off New England coast

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    Three marine creatures were seen from the sky off the coast of New England in October, according to the New England Aquarium.

    Three marine creatures were seen from the sky off the coast of New England in October, according to the New England Aquarium.

    Screengrab from the New England Aquarium on Facebook

    In a “rare sighting” from the sky, three “deep-diving” sea creatures surfaced in the Atlantic Ocean in mid-October, the New England Aquarium said.

    The aquariums said its aerial survey team spotted three True’s beaked whales, a species “rarely seen at the surface,” while above the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of New England. The aquarium shared a photo of the unique sighting on Facebook.

    True’s beaked whales are small- to medium-sized and can reach lengths of 15.5 to 17.5 feet, weighing up to 3,000 pounds, when they are adults, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are one of several beaked whale species.

    The whales live in the North Atlantic Ocean, as well as two locations in the Southern Hemisphere, NOAA reports online.

    “There is little information on the abundance of True’s beaked whales worldwide,” NOAA says.

    True’s beaked whales are known to dive as deep as nearly 10,000 feet while searching for food, according to NOAA.

    Their diet mostly consists of squid, and sometimes fish, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

    During the sighting of the True’s beaked whales, the New England Aquarium said its aerial team saw more than 700 marine animals, “including 402 common dolphins and seven fin whales,” over the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.

    This large stretch of ocean, about 130 miles from Cape Cod, is rich in biodiversity and has four underwater mountains as well as three underwater canyons, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

    It was presidentially recognized as a national monument in 2016.

    Julia Marnin

    McClatchy DC

    Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.

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    Julia Marnin

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  • ‘Rare’ sea creature with ‘leaf’-like body found in tide pool in Italy. See it

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    Scientists surveying tide pools in Italy found a “rare” sea creature in a first-of-its-kind sighting for the Adriatic Sea, photos show.

    Scientists surveying tide pools in Italy found a “rare” sea creature in a first-of-its-kind sighting for the Adriatic Sea, photos show.

    Screengrab from @MaPaRoNNiE’s YouTube video

    Along the rocky coast of eastern Italy at night, researchers scanned a tide pool in hopes of seeing something interesting. A “leaf”-like sea creature caught their attention — and for good reason.

    It turned out to be a “rare” and first-of-its-kind sighting for the Adriatic Sea.

    A team of researchers visited Passetto Beach, Ancona, in March as part of an ongoing project to survey molluscs, snails and slugs in the rocky tidal pools, according to an Oct. 24 study from the peer-reviewed journal Check List.

    During the nighttime low-tide surveys, researchers scoured the various pools and found a brightly colored sea slug, the study said. They photographed the animal and identified it as Caliphylla mediterranea.

    The Caliphylla mediterranea sea slug seen at Passetto Beach in Ancona, Italy.
    The Caliphylla mediterranea sea slug seen at Passetto Beach in Ancona, Italy. Photo from Paoletti, Toso, Trainito, Solca and Furfaro (2025)

    Caliphylla mediterranea are a “rare” and “poorly known” species of sea slug, researchers said. They are herbivores that feed on the cells within green algae, giving them a “vivid green/brown coloration.”

    Photos show the roughly 1-inch-long sea slug and its “numerous leaf-shaped” outgrowths. “Small red and white dots” are scattered across its body, the study said.

    “This finding constitutes the first record of this species for the Adriatic Sea and one of the few for the whole Mediterranean basin,” researchers said.

    Several views of the Caliphylla mediterranea sea slug seen at Passetto Beach.
    Several views of the Caliphylla mediterranea sea slug seen at Passetto Beach. Photos from Paoletti, Toso, Trainito, Solca and Furfaro (2025)

    “Although (Caliphylla) mediterranea was originally described from Naples, Italy, subsequent observations have been scarce in the Mediterranean Sea and almost restricted to the western basin, with only a few outdated records available so far,” the study said.

    Researchers described the Caliphylla mediterranea sighting at Passetto Beach as “quite unexpected” and an example of “the importance of continued monitoring of this area.”

    The Caliphylla mediterranea sea slug seen at Passetto Beach.
    The Caliphylla mediterranea sea slug seen at Passetto Beach. Photo from Paoletti, Toso, Trainito, Solca and Furfaro (2025)

    Passetto Beach is emerging as “a hotspot of neglected and/or unknown” marine life, researchers said, but the site is better known as a popular summer spot. The cliffside beach has over 100 “artificial caves” built as shelters for fishing boats and later turned into “houses and meeting places,” according to a 2022 study about the site.

    A YouTube video from MaPa RoNNiE shows the rocky coastline. Passetto Beach is on the northeastern coast of Italy and a roughly 180-mile drive northeast from Rome.

    The research team included Luca Paoletti, Yann Toso, Egidio Trainito, Michele Solca and Giulia Furfaro.

    Aspen Pflughoeft

    McClatchy DC

    Aspen Pflughoeft covers real-time news for McClatchy. She is a graduate of Minerva University where she studied communications, history, and international politics. Previously, she reported for Deseret News.

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    Aspen Pflughoeft

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  • Killer whale punts a sea lion 20 feet in the air to show calf how it’s done

    Killer whale punts a sea lion 20 feet in the air to show calf how it’s done

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    While many families spent Thanksgiving watching football in their living rooms, some lucky few spent it watching killer whales punt a sea lion 20 feet into the air in Monterey Bay.

    About 120 people aboard a Monterey Bay Whale Watch boat Thanksgiving morning witnessed a rare sighting of a pod of killer whales hunting sea lions in the bay. A few minutes into the encounter, one whale punted a sea lion almost 20 feet into the air, a common hunting tactic used by killer whales to slow down and exhaust its prey, marine biologist Colleen Talty said.

    Although many people on the boat were excited to lay eyes on the killer whales, some raised concern about the well-being of the sea lions, according to a photographer on the boat who called the scene “bittersweet” but a necessary part of nature.

    “Of course you feel bad for the sea lion, but you have to remember it’s nature and without sea lions, the pod wouldn’t survive without the food,” photographer Morgan Quimby said.

    Talty, who has seen a sea lion punt “multiple times” in her six years of working at Monterey Bay Whale Watch, said witnessing such a moment is quite rare.

    “You have to be at the right place at the right time,” Talty said. “You could even get the hunt when they’ve already punted the sea lion, because oftentimes that’s done in the beginning of the hunt when they’re first trying to get the sea lion exhausted, separate it if it’s in a group.”

    Based on the behavior of the four whales, Talty said it was a training session for the new calf in the pod that was learning how to hunt with its mother, grandmother and aunt.

    “Once they successfully killed a sea lion, the members of the pod took turns displaying attack maneuvers and behaviors to further instruct their newest pod member on how to hunt,” Monterey Bay Whale Watch said Friday on Facebook.

    Monterey Bay Whale Watch has seen this particular family of killer whales, known as the CA51As, in the bay for over 30 years and across four generations of whales, Talty said.

    A killer whale punts a sea lion almost 20 feet into the air, a common hunting tactic used by killer whales to slow down and exhaust its prey.

    (Morgan Quimby Photography)

    Quimby was on the boat Thursday morning and caught the rare sighting on camera. The erratic movements of the whales made it challenging for her to photograph them, so she decided to focus her lens on one of the four or five different groups of sea lions in the water. The pack of sea lions she had her camera focused on happened to be the one the killer whales went after.

    “Any time there are killer whales in the area, I’m constantly ready, following them, tracking them with my camera, trying to make sure I don’t miss any of the shots, any of their behavior,” she said.

    The hunting session began around 10:30 a.m. and went on for almost two hours before the whales’ movements slowed down and they finished feasting, Quimby said.

    “They’re so family driven and intelligent, so to be able to watch them teaching this several-month-old calf how to hunt and how to survive is just such a special and intimate moment that we were lucky to witness,” she said.

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    Ashley Ahn

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