Less than two weeks after a great white shark was spotted off Wrightsville Beach, two local fishermen captured a humpback whale on video just outside Masonboro Inlet.
David Plowden shot the video Tuesday while Danny Hieronymus steered Plowden's 30-foot boat, the Topwater.
Hieronymus – who called the encounter his “Sea World adventure” – wasn't sure how big the mammal was, but said it was definitely longer than the boat.
That's typical for an adult humpback whale, which can be between 35 and 52 feet long and weigh up to 40 tons, according to Paul Barrington, director of husbandry and operations at the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher.
Sightings are somewhat common off the North Carolina coast, said Barrington, who praised the video as “outstanding.”
“Humpbacks are one of the more predominant species of whale found this time of year in our continental shelf waters,” he said. “They are worldwide in distribution and spend most of the winter in the Caribbean, so more than likely, it's in a migration route from the feeding grounds in the Gulf of Maine and Iceland, heading down to the Caribbean.”
Whales are easier to spot than some other forms of sea life, as they must broach the surface in order to take in oxygen.
“They're air-breathers,” Barrington said. “They have to come to the surface to breathe.”
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