A midwinter’s nap of a few days’...

A midwinter’s nap of a few days’ duration may seem a bit long, but by a whale’s clock it’s just enough for a light snooze.

Coastal residents of Palos Verdes Estates didn’t know that when they spotted a young 20-foot whale drifting Tuesday amid clumps of kelp about 200 yards from the cliffs of Rocky Point. Thinking that the whale was entangled in the seaweed, they notified marine authorities.

But the whale was just resting in the bed of kelp, according to Jim Lecky, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service who observed the whale through binoculars from shore for 45 minutes. Whales “enter a resting phase sometimes that is analogous to sleep,” he said. Such dormant periods can last for several days. Had the whale been awake, he said, the kelp would not be a problem because whales can swim through it.

“It’s just a juvenile whale that’s not sexually mature yet, so it has no reason to go to Baja,” Lecky said, referring to the annual whale migration toward Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, where they breed. “It’s likely to hang around for a few more days.”

“For some reason, they just seem to like kelp beds,” he said. The young whale was seen in the kelp area for most of the week.