Pod of 14 Sperm Whales Between Long Beach and Catalina Called 'Once in a Lifetime' Moment

The pod of 14 sperm whales spotted Wednesday between Long Beach and Catalina has eluded spectators ever since, but Aquarium of the Pacific Marine Biologist Dave Bader said people should know: "Whales can be spotted off our coast any day of the year."

There are an estimated 2,200 sperm whales living off the West Coast, not counting Alaska, he said. But they are not as commonly spotted--and rarely more than one or two together--because they can hold their breath for more than an hour and they dive thousands of feet deep to hunt for squid.

"People tend to think of whales as just passing through here, but they come, often, as a destination to feed on krill. We're a place where this amazing wildlife shows up. We saw a Gray Whale breach earlier this week," Bader said of the coast of Long Beach and surrounding waters north and south.  "If people knew that they live in the wild, that our coast here is a place that has a richness of life worth whales traveling to as a destination to feed, I think they'd see that there's a whole diverse life out there and a lot we still don't know about."

Any examples?

For one, Blue Whales--the largest creature on earth--come to the Southern California Coast, but no one knows where they come from or return to. Gray Whales are the type most sighted. And Sperm Whales are the most seldom seen. Which made it "a once in a lifetime experience" that two boats of passengers saw the breathtaking sight.

He, however, did not.

"I saw the pictures and I'm terribly jealous," he said, laughing. "But I did get to see large feeding Blue Whales at the surface earlier in the week."

When the passengers of the Christopher whale watching boat observed the sperm whales, there were 14 near the surface, in water about 2,800 feet deep, Bader said. The whales typically would feed at about 1,500 feet. As the largest toothed whale, the sperm whale is among the creatures who eat a single animal, whereas other whales use their baleen; they open their gigantic mouths and zoom through, say, a school of fish.

"Mostly, the sperm whales come here for our squid. They're known to eat giant squid," Bader said, clearly warming to his topic. How giant? Biologists finally got to see a truly giant squid by following sperm whales that hunt them. The largest living squid found was 60 t 80 feet long.

Wednesday's twin sightings were from the decks of the specialized Harbor Breeze Cruises whale-watching boat, the Christopher, which takes year-round whale watching trips. Aquarium experts educate and offer tips for helping whales and other animals inhabiting local waters. 

The sperm whale pod may be long gone, Bader said. Then again, they may be out there, diving and feeding on squid, and surface.

"There's a better likelihood that we'll see them now than at any other time, and I don't want to disappoint," Bader added. But who could resist trying? "It's just such a wonderful opportunity to see their magnificence."