On a tuna safari organised by the Øresund Aquarium visitors experienced a real sensation last Saturday. In addition to three-metre-long tuna, they also got to see a beaked whale up to ten metres long.
The animals are very rarely found near the coast and are therefore not native to Danish waters. According to Catharina Marcussen, nature and culture educator at the Øresund Aquarium, this is the first time this whale species has visited the Øresund since 2000. She confirmed this to the television channel TV 2 Cosmopol "It's quite rare. I think there has only ever been one beaked whale in the Öresund, so this is a sensation."
Where does the beaked whale come from?
The Øresund Aquarium assumes that it is a northern bottlenose whale, which belongs to the beaked whale family. This species lives mainly in the North Atlantic; how and why it travelled to the strait between Zealand and Skåne is unclear. However, it is assumed that it may have strayed into the Sound due to the high food supply. The returning tuna, which are currently so present, are also attracted by the large quantities of herring, mackerel and garfish.
The Atlantic tuna had disappeared from Danish-Swedish waters for over 50 years until it was observed again for the first time in the Øresund in 2017. In recent years, the population has grown continuously, creating a real hype around the big hunter since 2022.
According to Marcussen spotted the beaked whale again on Sunday and yesterday, but she does not expect it to stay in the Øresund for long. The sighting therefore remains rare and unique.
