Rare whales spotted in Red Sea near Saudi Arabia’s al-Qunfudah: NCW

Five rare whales were spotted in the Red Sea near al-Qunfudah, in Saudi Arabia’s Makkah province, the Kingdom’s National Center for Wildlife (NCW) revealed on Saturday.

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“A Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni brydei) breathing about 60km off the shores of al-Qunfudah. These whales are very rare in the Red Sea. Five whales were documented during #RSDE,” the NCW tweeted on Saturday.

The whales were observed during the Red Sea Decade Expedition (RSDE), a 19-week exploration program involving over 120 researchers, to conduct research and study the area’s marina life.

The expedition is a joint mission between NEOM Co and OceanX – a non-profit ocean exploration organization – King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, and King Abdulaziz University.

As part of the expedition, the NCW announced last week that it had spotted a group of over 2,000 Pantropical Spotted Dolphins since their surveys started.

The center recently organized a workshop which was attended by national and international experts in biodiversity conservation to devise a national roadmap to raise the proportion of protected areas to 30 percent of the Kingdom, NCW tweeted on Tuesday.

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