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Gray whale leaves Newport Harbor and continues up the coast

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The juvenile gray whale that had been making itself at home in Newport Harbor since last week is continuing its journey up the coast, authorities said Friday.

Officials with the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spent several hours in Newport Harbor on Wednesday morning scanning the waterway for the whale in hopes of helping it find its way back to the ocean.

But the whale had it under control.

By the end of the day, the mammal had left the harbor and was later seen near the Port of Los Angeles, according to Pacific Marine Mammal Center spokeswoman Krysta Higuchi.

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The whale, which NOAA officials believe is about a year old, was first spotted in San Diego on Aug. 7 before making its way to Dana Point and then to Newport Harbor on Aug. 10.

Boaters and experts suspected the whale was trying to make its way to Alaska, where gray whales typically spend the summer feeding on plankton. In the fall, the whales journey to warmer waters off Baja California.

It’s not clear why this one stopped in Newport Beach when most of its fellow whales already had made their way through the area en route to Alaska.

Higuchi said it’s uncommon for whales to spend more than a few hours inside a harbor. Officials noted the whale appeared thin, and they were worried it could be sick.

“The good news is it’s slowly but surely making its way up north,” Higuchi said.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN

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