Recently a sperm whale in the Gulf of Mexico has encountered a research vessel near Louisiana. The entire event has been captured and published in form of an amazing video.
The sperm whale in question was located 1,962 ft below the water surface when the encounter took place. Initially, researchers carrying out the study thought that they were seeing a humpback whale. The gigantic marine mammal kept on circling Hercules, a ROV or remotely operated vehicle; this allowed the research team to capture the in-water movements of the cetacean without any trouble.
For those who don’t know: sperm whales are not common in the water bodies of Louisiana; additionally, these aquatic mammals encounter ROVs quite infrequently.
The team leaders of EV Nautilus informed the world about the encounter via a post on their Facebook page. They wrote that ROV Hercules has had a rare and amazing encounter in the Gulf of Mexico during which it has met a sperm whale 1,962 ft or 598 m beneath the water surface.
Although the research team was quite thrilled to be able to witness such an event and capture it in form of a video a researcher participating in the study said that the incident appeared to be fake. Another member of the team, on the other hand, said that they will probably get similar feedbacks even from individuals watching the video.
The giant sperm whale came so close to the vessel that the researchers even spotted marks on the marine mammal’s nose. The marks, according to them, were most likely caused by a collision with the boat’s propellers.
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The research team never expected that they will be witnessing such a close encounter between the ROV and a sperm whale. When the encounter took place, the entire team was busy exploring the Gulf’s hydrothermal vents in order to unearth the secret of formation of life in these strange geological circumstances.
The event, however, cannot be termed as a unique incident. This is because sperm whales are known for their curious nature and their habit of checking our automated vehicles and boats. However, such incidents have become rare now as only a few sperm whales are left in this planet.
