Right Whales Spotted Off Florida

Photographs taken by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, under NOAA permit 26919.

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Four North Atlantic right whales were spotted off of Florida on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2023, near Jacksonville.

The four whales are two pairs of mothers with their calves.

The survey teams sighted Catalog #1802 ‘Legato’ with a calf off Nassau Sound in Florida on December 31, 2023 (pictured above). 

Catalog #1802 is 36 years old, and this is her fifth calf. She last gave birth 13 years ago during the 2011 calving season.

Aerial survey teams with the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute spotted Catalog #3780 with a newborn calf on December 31, 2023, offshore of Amelia Island in Florida. 

Researchers say Catalog #3780 is at least 17 years old, and this is her first calf. The calf is less than three days old.

Right whales migrate every winter to the east coasts of Georgia and Florida, including Florida’s Space Coast.

From November 15 to April 15 each year, pregnant females migrate from their northern feeding grounds to the sheltered waters of the calving ground to give birth to their young.

Whalers labeled these animals “right whales” because they considered them the “right” whales to hunt. They swam slowly in coastal waters, floated when dead, and yielded large amounts of oil and baleen. Right whales had been hunted to near extinction when hunting was finally banned in 1935.

Right whales lack a dorsal fin. Instead, they have a large, flat back. When right whales breathe they produce a V-shaped blow that is often as high as 15 feet and is visible from a great distance.

These baleen-type whales feed on tiny zooplankton, measure up to 50 feet in length, and can weigh up to 140,000 pounds.

When Right Whales are active off Florida, speed restrictions of 10 knots apply to vessels 65 feet or greater in specific areas and times along the U.S. East Coast. It is illegal to approach right whales within 500 yards, according to NOAA.

How to report right whale sightings:

Report right whale sightings by calling the following numbers with an accurate location and description of the sighting: 1-888-97-WHALE (94253) or the FWC Wildlife Alert Program at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922).