For the second time in two years, a whale has been spotted in the Montreal area, hundreds of kilometres away from its usual habitat, the head of a marine mammal research group confirmed Monday.

Robert Michaud of the R茅seau qu茅b茅cois dB次元官网网址檜rgences pour les mammif猫res marins said a young minke whale was first spotted Sunday in the St. Lawrence River near the cityB次元官网网址檚 Parc Jean-Drapeau.

Michaud said itB次元官网网址檚 not clear why the whale would make such a long journey into a freshwater habitat thatB次元官网网址檚 not healthy for it. ItB次元官网网址檚 possible the minke is ill or disoriented, but itB次元官网网址檚 also possible itB次元官网网址檚 just curious, he said.

B次元官网网址淢aybe itB次元官网网址檚 just an explorer, a young animal following fish and making one bad decision after another,B次元官网网址� he said in a phone interview.

Late Monday afternoon, the whale could be seen in a section of the river that flows between two islands, in the shadow of the Montreal Biosphere built for Expo 67.

Crowds lined a bridge that spans the waterway, pointing and gasping as the small grey whale came up periodically for air.

The sighting comes nearly two years after another whale, a humpback, spent several days near MontrealB次元官网网址檚 Old Port, where it delighted curious onlookers with its acrobatic leaps out of the water. Despite its apparent good health, that whale was found dead in June 2020, and a necropsy suggested the 10-metre-long animal may have been hit by a boat.

Michaud said minke whales are B次元官网网址渢he smallest of the big whales,B次元官网网址� reaching around eight metres in length. While theyB次元官网网址檙e fairly common in Quebec, they donB次元官网网址檛 generally venture west of the St. Lawrence estuary around Tadoussac, where the water is salty.

While the whale off Montreal appears healthy, its current location is B次元官网网址渘ot a nice place for a whale to be,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 450 kilometres upstream from where it should be at this time of year.B次元官网网址�

A team has been deployed to observe the whale, but Michaud said the group canB次元官网网址檛 do much to help besides warning boaters to be careful. He said there are no known techniques for transporting or steering an animal of that size back downstream.

He said itB次元官网网址檚 also unlikely experts will be able to carry out the kind of 24-hour monitoring needed to entirely prevent another boat strike, because doing so would involve piercing the animalB次元官网网址檚 skin with a GPS tracker when itB次元官网网址檚 already at higher risk of infection from its freshwater surroundings.

He said the group is crossing its fingers and hoping the whale turns around and heads back downstream on its own B次元官网网址� and that it avoids the fate of its predecessor.

B次元官网网址淭he best we can do is to wish it good luck,B次元官网网址� he said.

B次元官网网址擬organ Lowrie, The Canadian Press