A humpback whale was spotted swimming near Brooklyn on Monday—a rare sighting for New York City residents.
Fox News obtained footage of the whale swimming under the Williamsburg Bridge, spraying out of its blowhole as residents and visitors gathered to watch in awe.
According to the New York Post, this is the first time a humpback has been spotted in the East River in two years. While the occurrence isn’t too far out of the ordinary, “It’s much, much more common to see them in the ocean along the coastline,” Danielle Brown, Gotham Whale’s director of research, told The Post.
“We’ve only had rare cases of them moving into the river, but it does happen,” she added.
Most likely, the whale was searching for food, as the species typically doesn’t get close to cities in this way, Brown explained. However, “The whales will follow fish wherever they need to go,” she told The Post. “So sometimes that does mean heading north into the river, and it does seem to happen this time of year.”
Humpback whales live in all oceans and can be found across the globe. The East River—which is where the whale found itself on Monday—is a saltwater strait that connects Upper New York Bay to Long Island Sound. Despite its name, it’s not actually a “river,” but rather a waterway.
So, again, while it isn’t necessarily common for whales to venture into the saltwater tidal estuary, it’s not impossible—especially when these creatures are on the hunt for food.
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