They're amazing and majestic, and there's only a few left.

This totally amazing video posted to Facebook by the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium shows a young North Atlantic Right Whale breaching the waters off Long Island at the mouth of Blue Hill Bay.  The video was taken from a sailboat Sunday, August 9th, within a half mile of the shore.

Apparently local fishermen are familiar with the whale and know him as Old Tom.

According to the New England Aquarium, Old Tom was born last year and his mother's name is Boomerang, as documented in the organization's catalog.  Old Tom has been officially seen and documented twice this year.  Once back in January off the coast of Georgia and then again in March in Cape Cod Bay.

This is the second sighting of a Right Whale within a half mile of the Maine coast in the past month.  If you happen to be standing on the shore someday and see one, the New England Aquarium asks that you take a photo and them document the sighting HERE.

Right Whales are all black in color except for irregularly shaped raised white patches on their head.  They can grow as long as 52 feet.  They breach the water as they feed from the surface to the ocean bottom.  In the Fall they will travel some 1000 miles south to the warmer waters of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

According to NOAA Fisheries, the North Atlantic Right Whale is one of the world's most endangered species and there's only approximately 400 of them left. Sadly, the biggest threats to a Right Whale is being hit by a boat and becoming entangled in fishing line.

Here in Maine, we're more than happy to welcome them to our waters.

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