BOSTON (CN) — “A beautiful and rare sight to see,” Massachusetts officials tweeted Tuesday, captioning a 10-second video of a humpback whale soaring up from the calm waters of Boston Harbor.
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation captured the breaching whale off the fittingly named Spectacle Island earlier Tuesday during routine rounds of the harbor.
Just a quarter of a mile from downtown Boston, humpbacks are seldom spotted in the harbor but have been making a number of appearances in recent days.
Boston Harbor Cruises has identified five to six individuals whales, a spokeswoman for the company told the Associated Press.
While experts say the presence of whales can be expected to continue so long as there is food, the U.S. Coast Guard is urging mariners to use "extreme caution" and keep a safe distance from whales.
Around the same time as Tuesday’s whale sighting in Boston Harbor meanwhile, Maine fisherman Mike Billings hauled in what he called a nearly see-through "ghost lobster” off the coast of Stonington.
A genetic condition that causes partial pigmentation loss is the likely cause of the crustacean’s unique coloration, according to an article from The Portland Press Herald.
The Associated Press quoted Billings as saying that he took pictures of the lobster, and then threw it back into the ocean.
Billings also caught a rare calico lobster in 2014, the same year he caught one with one blue claw, the AP article notes.
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