Sydney photographer captures pic of blue whale, possibly spotted third time in 100 years

Sydney based photographer named Sean took to Instagram to share a video and a picture of the majestic blue whale spotted by him. Sean was watching humpbacks whales when he spotted the largest living animal in the world and shared the moment on social media. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) said that this was possibly the third verified sighting of the rare blue whale off the coast of Sydney. 

Blue Whale spotted in Sydney

In the post shared by the Sydney based photographer, the largest mammal on the planet was seen swimming by. He shared an absolutely beautiful picture of the blue whale in the waters of Sydney. Sean said, "I’m speechless but could blurt out a million things at the same time. Yesterday watching a lot of humpbacks travel south in my usual spot at Maroubra, one of the great wonders of the magical ocean appeared in-front of me. Although so large they are incredibly hard to ever see especially on the east coast on Australia. To put their size into perspective; they grow to around 30 metres, their tongue weights the same as an elephant & their heart is the size of a car! Completely mesmerised & feel like I’ve hit the Jackpot."

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In an official press release, the NSW NPWS said that the blue whale spotted could weight over 100 tonnes and be over 25 meters in length. While the blue whale is the largest mammal on Earth, the researchers and whale watchers find it difficult to spot one. While the NSW NPWS has been able to figure out the population of the humpback whale, the same could not be done for the blue whale as spotting them is tough. 

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"The blue whale is the largest animal on the plant yet despite its size it could have easily slipped by Sydney's coast unnoticed. They are not often seen because they tend to live very far out to sea, their populations are widely dispersed and we have very limited data on its migration and critical habitat. We have unofficial records of blue whales near Sydney from observers at Cape Solander in 2002 and 2013 but this recent sighting is the first verified record of this species off our coast," said NPWS' Andrew Marshall. 

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