New Delhi: A rare sighting of a family of Humpback whales off the coast of Western Indian state of Gujarat has come to light following a late inquiry, said experts.

“This could be the fifth sighting of Humpbacks officially recorded on Indian shores in more than five decades.” said Dhiresh Joshi of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).

Marine biologists confirmed last week the photo records of the three Humpback whales taken by a coast guard patrol team in October last year.

Coast guards aboard the vessel Tarabai, 30 nautical miles from the shore of Jakhau had spent more than three hours to photograph these wonderful marine mammals.

However, the matter remained buried until Joshi met one of the coast guards recently, which presented with an opportunity to study the photographs.

“Since no one could correctly identify the species from the picture, I decided to forward them to one of my associate, Dipani Sutaria in Australia who has been studying marine ecology in Gujarat.” said Joshi.

“After her confirmation, we concluded that this could be one of the rare occasions the species is sighted on Indian shores and perhaps the first time off the coast of Gujarat.” he said.

Experts said, widespread commercial hunting of Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) by some countries in the last few decades has threatened their existence globally. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the year 1986 had announced a global moratorium on whaling to prevent the mass slaughter of whales.

WTI’s partner, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has been lobbying with various countries to increase protection of the species.