A bowhead whale with a skull so large it can cut through arctic ice, was spotted in Cape Cod bay this week.
Researchers with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies saw the whale as they continued their observations of an enormous pod of rare right whales from the air.
Cape Cod Bay is becoming a global whale epicenter. Of the 500 right whales known to exist in the world, scientists counted 90 in the western portion of Cape Cod Bay near the Canal this month.
The discovery of the bowhead whale is only the second time in history the giant mammal has been seen this far south.
The bowhead grows to 40 feet in length and weighs 200,000 pounds and was also spotted off Orleans in open ocean two years ago. Bowheads normally cruise Alaskan waters. Scientists are at a loss to explain why the bowhead whale traveled this far south.
Update: April 23, 2014
Scientists confirm the bowhead whale was seen swimming with a herd of right whales in Cape Cod Bay again April 19th. Scars on its head indicate it is the same whale as the one spotted on April 9th and once before in 2012 off Orleans, according to the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.