Watch ‘miracle whale’ keep up with 10,000-mile migration — despite missing its tail

Brooke Baitinger
·2 min read

A “miracle whale” missing its tail was spotted swimming off the coast of California on its way to Alaska, according to a whaling tour group.

Newport Coastal Adventure caught sight of the unique whale the morning of Monday, March 13, according to video posted to the group’s Instagram.

“This is a ‘Miracle Whale!’” the group said in the post. “Today we saw a Gray Whale completely missing its tail, but still persevering. It was swimming up the coast off Newport Beach around 10am ... at a pace of 3mph.”

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Gray whales are “typically slow swimmers” and average between three and five miles per hour, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. So the whale’s missing tail doesn’t seem to hinder it much compared with peers that have tails intact.

In fact, it seems as though the whale has successfully made the 10,000-mile annual migration from Alaska to Mexico and back, the group said. The injury appears several years old, the group said, adding that the whale appears slightly underweight “but not dramatically so.”

“This type of injury was likely caused by its tail being tangled in commercial fishing gear, and eventually falling off,” Newport Coastal Adventure said in the caption on the video. “As horrible as this injury is, it’s incredible that this whale is determined to survive, and so far appears to be successful.”

Captain Ryan Lawler, the tour group’s owner, captured the video. He noticed something odd about the way the whale was swimming and realized why once he got closer, he told The Orange County Register.

“It definitely had a unique swimming style because it had to compensate for not having a tail anymore,” he told the outlet.

As a stand in for its flukes, the whale used its pectoral flippers at the front of its body, the outlet reported.

It isn’t the first time a whale without a tail was spotted. There have been sightings in Southern California in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

Viewers shared in the comments that though the whale’s injury was upsetting, it was amazing to see how the whale had adjusted to life without a tail.

“Wow that is incredible,” someone said. “I bet it has adapted, as many do with the loss of an appendage.”

“Poor baby but admire and glad to see her/him thriving,” someone else said.

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