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Estimates suggest there are only around 380 North Atlantic right whales left
One of the world’s most endangered whales that was first identified two years off the coast of County Donegal has been sighted for a second time some 3,000 miles away.
The North Atlantic right whale was recorded near Slieve League in 2024 – the first confirmed recording of the species in Irish waters.
Now researchers have confirmed that a sighting in November 2025 in Massachusetts Bay in the United States is the same animal.
“Seeing a whale photographed in Ireland reappear off Boston is extraordinary,” Dr Daniel Palacios from the US Centre for Coastal Studies (CCS) said.
Center for Coastal Studies
The whale was spotted again in November 2025 off Boston in the US
“Encounters like this highlight both their resilience and the importance of international cooperation to support their recovery,” he said.
Researchers believe it is the first documented case in which a whale initially identified in the eastern North Atlantic has been later resighted in the western North Atlantic.
North Atlantic right whales are among the planet’s most critically endangered large ocean mammals.
It is believed there are only around 380 remaining.
Using photographs of the 2024 County Donegal sighting, experts at the New England Aquarium – which curates the North Atlantic Right Whale Photo ID catalogue – in the United States, have now photo-ID matched and identified the animal sighted in November 2025.
CCS researchers Ryan Schosberg and Annie Bartlett spotted the whale while conducting an aerial survey off the US coast.
“The first sighting of the year is always exciting, but we didn’t yet realise just how remarkable this one would turn out to be,” he said.
“The distance between these sightings highlights both how far these animals are capable of travelling and how much we still have to learn about them.
He added: “Findings like this highlight gaps in our understanding of right whale habitat use and indicate that these animals may range more widely than previously believed.”
What is the North Atlantic right whale?
North Atlantic right whales are like tanks in the water – heavy, wide and dense.
They are also curious, acrobatic animals who can be seen breaching the water and smacking it with their flukes.
For centuries, they were lucrative prey for whalers.
In the medieval era, they were hunted by the Basques and later their blubber helped fuel the Industrial Revolution, when whale oil was used to lubricate factory machinery.
Now their habitat overlaps with a heavily industrialised part of the ocean ranging from Florida to Newfoundland.
IWDG
The whale had been observed near Killybegs in County Donegal in 2024
Pádraig Whooley, of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) said any photo-id of such a large whale “requires a lot of effort and a fair bit of luck”.
“When these matches are made across ocean basins, you need to get even luckier.
“So, we had zero expectation of matching this solitary right whale from Donegal Bay in July 2024,” he said, adding Ireland was one of only four eastern North Atlantic countries that had a confirmed sighting of a North Atlantic right whale.
He said if “pioneering individuals” like the one now sighted in US waters can find their way “to more suitable habitats in the Eastern Atlantic” then it may “potentially offer a lifeline for this struggling population.”