Marine Wildlife of the Gulf of Maine
We invite you to learn more about marine wildlife that live and feed in the waters of the Gulf of Maine. Some marine organisms, like phytoplankton and zooplankton, are small and often microscopic in size, yet they are found in abundance as they drift passively with the water currents. Zooplankton are food for other organisms including the Northern right whale, a baleen whale that can reach 60 feet and weigh close to 100 tons and is
considered to be the most endangered marine animal offshore. Some species spend their entire lives in these productive coastal waters, while others migrate into the Gulf of Maine to feed on a seasonal basis. Regardless of their size, abundance or residency, each species is an important member of this ecological community that is part of a diverse and often fragile marine ecosystem.
The image to the right shows the bathymetry of the Gulf of Maine.
This bathymetric map shows the sea floor terrain using a blue color spectrum. Areas of deep water are shaded dark blue and areas of shallow water are shaded light blue.
Image by Ed Roworth and Rich Signell
of the U.S. Geological Survey - USGS
Whether you are a fisherman, beach goers, birder, whale watcher or nature enthusiast, wildlife viewing is fun and rewarding in so many ways. People of all ages and different backgrounds enjoy watching marine animals in their natural environments. These opportunities help us stay connected to wildlife that share our coastal communities and whose survival, like ours, depends upon the health and productivity of the world’s oceans.
Listed below is some of the unique coastal marine wildlife that is observed from vessels offshore. This list is a modified version that is present in A Field Guide to North Atlantic Wildlife Marine Mammals, Seabirds, Fish and Other Sea Life by Noble S. Proctor and Patrick J. Lynch, Yale University Press, 2005.
BIRDS
- Alcids
- Atlantic Puffin
- Black Guillemot
- Common Murre
- Dovekie
- Razorbill
- Thick-billed Murre
- Brant and Ducks
- Black Scoter
- Brant
- Bufflehead
- Common Eider
- Common Goldeneye
- Greater Scaup
- Harlequin Duck
- King Eider
- Lesser Scaup
- Long-Tailed Duck
- Surf Scoter
- White-Winged Scoter
- Cormorants
- Double-Crested Cormorant
- Great Cormorant
- Gannets and Shearwaters
- Northern Gannet
- Greater Shearwater
- Sooty Shearwater
- Manx Shearwater
- Cory’s Shearwater
- Northern Fulmar
- Gulls
- Black-headed Gull
- Black-legged Kittiwake
- Bonaparte’s Gull
- Glaucous Gull
- Great Black-Backed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Iceland Gull
- Laughing Gull
- Lesser Black-Backed Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- Sabine’s Gull
- Loons and Grebes
- Common Loon
- Horned Grebe
- Red-Necked Grebe
- Red-Throated Loon
- Shorebirds
- American Golden Plover
- Red-Necked Phalarope
- Red Phalarope
- Whimbrel
- Skuas and Jaegars
- Great Skua
- Long-Tailed Jaegar
- Parasitic Jaegar
- Pomarine Jaegar
- South Polar Skua
- Storm-Petrels
- Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
- Leach’s Storm-Petrel
- Terns
- Arctic Tern
- Black Noddy
- Black Skimmer
- Black Tern
- Brown Noddy
- Caspian Tern
- Common Tern
- Forester’s Tern
- Gull-billed Tern
- Least Tern
- Roseate Tern
- Royal Tern
- Sandwich Tern
- Sooty Tern
FISH
- Dogfish
- Black Dogfish
- Smooth Dogfish
- Spiny Dogfish
- Bony Fish
- American Sandlance
- Atlantic Cod
- Bluefish
- Giant Bluefin Tuna
- Haddock
- Herring species
i.e. Alewife, Blueback, Atlantic Herring, etc. - Ocean Sunfish
- Pollack
- Striped Bass
- Yellowfin Tuna
- Sharks
- Basking Shark
- Black Tip Shark
- Blue Shark
- Bull Shark
- Dusky Shark
- Hammerhead species
i.e., Smooth, Great, Scalloped, etc. - Mako species - Longfin and Shortfin
- Nurse Shark
- Porbeagle
- Sandbar Shark
- Sand Tiger
- Thresher Shark
- Tiger Shark
- White Shark
SEALS
- Gray Seal
- Harbor Seal
- Harp Seal
- Hooded Seal
- Ringed Seal
SEA TURTLES
- Atlantic Hawksbill
- Atlantic Leatherback
- Atlantic Ridley
- Green Sea Turtle
- Loggerhead Sea Turtle
WHALES AND DOLPHINS
- Large Baleen Whales
- Blue Whale
- Bryde’s Whale
- Finback Whale
- Humpback Whale
- Minke Whale
- Northern Right Whale
- Sei Whale
- Large Toothed Whales
- Beluga
- Beaked Whale species
- False Killer Whale
- Grampus
- Killer Whale
- Northern Bottlenose Whale
- Pygmy Sperm Whale
- Short-finned Pilot Whale
- Sperm Whale
- Long-finned Pilot Whale
- Dolphins and Porpoise
- Atlantic Spotted Dolphin
- Atlantic White-sided Dolphin
- Bottlenose Dolphin
- Common Dolphin
- Harbor Porpoise
- Grampus - Risso’s Dolphin
- Spinner Dolphin
- Spotted Dolphin
- Striped Dolphin
- White-beaked Dolphin
