Huge sea creature known for having a 400-pound heart spotted off New Jersey. See it

Boaters in New Jersey waters got the sighting of a lifetime when a blue whale swam into view.

“We witnessed the largest living animal in the world off the coast of Cape May,” Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center said Sept. 15 in a Facebook announcement recounting the moment.

While blue whales inhabit oceans all over the globe, they are listed as endangered, with only about 15,000 left on the planet, according to Monterey Bay Aquarium.

“This rare event illustrates the incredible ecosystem off our coast,” the center said.

Seeing a blue whale is a bucket list item for whale watchers, not only due to its scarcity but also because of its extraordinary size.

Blue whales dwarf all known species of dinosaur and every other creature that has roamed the Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They can reach 110 feet long and 330,000 pounds.

By comparison, college and professional basketball courts are 94 feet long. The weight of one blue whale could equal that of dozens of elephants.

To support a creature of this magnitude, a blue whale’s heart weighs about 400 pounds, 640 times the weight of a human heart, according to National Geographic.

They are also the loudest animals on Earth, the World Wildlife Fund says, with a call that can reach 188 decibels (48 decibels louder than a jet engine) and can be heard for miles.

Photos posted by Cape May Whale Watch show the gigantic mammal swimming by, its gray back and dorsal fin visible from above the water.

The significance of the sighting was not lost on anyone.

“An Atlantic lifer for every passenger onboard,” the center said.

This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Huge sea creature known for having a 400-pound heart spotted off New Jersey. See it."