Conservation researchers aboard a ship off Point Reyes recently spotted a whale so rare that experts estimate fewer than 50 remain in United States waters. The endangered North Pacific right whale was observed resting near the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary on May 24. “This whale was observed for 20 minutes and had a distinctive V-shaped blow, a black body, at least one cluster of white callosities on the head, and no dorsal fin,” the conservation group, called California Current Ecosystem Studies, reported. At the time of the sighting, the vessel—the Bell M. Shimada—was conducting a marine wildlife survey about three miles west of the Point Reyes National Seashore. Scientists had observed several blue and humpback whales the day before, but few aboard the ship expected to encounter a North Pacific right whale, whose population is so scarce that even estimating it is a challenge. Right whales are baleen whales, which feed by straining huge volumes of ocean water through their comb-like baleen plates that trap zooplankton such as shrimp. They have stocky black bodies and large heads that make up a quarter of their length and are sometimes crowned with light, raised patches of wart-like skin, called callosities. Though there is little data on right whale longevity, they are believed to live to at least 70 years. Commercial fishing in the Gulf of Alaska beginning in the early 1800s decimated the North Pacific right whale population at a torrid rate. It is estimated that as many as 37,000 animals were killed between 1839 and 1909, with the majority taken in a single decade, from 1840 to 1849. By 1900, the species was considered commercially extinct. Slow to recover, North Pacific right whale numbers gradually crept back up over the ensuing decades. In 1937, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling banned their commercial hunting in the North Pacific. But illegal whaling by the Soviet Union in the 1960s again threatened to push the species to the brink of extinction. In 1970, the species was officially protected under the Endangered Species Act. “North Pacific right whales used to be the ‘right’ whale to kill because they float, and they were easy to transport and process during the whaling years,” said Jaime Jahncke, a director at Point Blue Conservation Science. “The chance to see one is very low.” While the whaling years are long in the past, North Pacific right whales continue to face threats from humans. These include vessel strikes, entanglement in fishing gear and underwater noise pollution. Looming over these dangers are the impacts of climate change, the full extent of which remains uncertain. Changing water temperatures and distribution of prey have the potential to leave right whales malnourished and disrupt essential environmental cues for migration and navigation. The recent sighting marks the first time the species has been seen around the Bay Area since March 2023, when members of Monterey Bay Whale Watch observed and photographed a right whale offshore of Pacific Grove. According to the Marine Mammal Center, there have been only 18 confirmed sightings of the species in California since 1955.