The southern right whale currently visiting Wellington Harbour has continued to put on a show for onlookers today with numerous splashes and tail waves.
It's the first recorded sighting of a souther right whale in the capital for eight years and NIWA has taken the chance to get up close and study it.
Some hardy Wellingtonians were even spotted heading out on paddle boards to see it, despite the wintry temperatures.
The rare sighting came a little too close for comfort when the whale breached and landed near the researchers’ boat.
The species was common in the Wellington area before being driven to the verge of extinction due to whaling in the 18th century.
The Department of Conservation states on its website the mammal was deemed the ‘right’ whale to hunt as they were easy to approach, lived close to the shoreline and provided large amounts of meat, oil and whalebone. Adults can reach 18 metres in length.
The whale's arrival this week comes just a couple of days after fishermen came across an even rarer white-pigmented humpback whale of the coast of Gisborne on June 30.
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