J.J. THE WHALE LEAVES MYSTERY BEHIND.Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer J.J. - phone home! Ever since J.J. the whale was returned to the ocean off the San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. coast March 31 and shed her tracking transmitters, calls have trickled into Sea World San Diego from people who swear they've spotted the enigmatic gray cetacean cetacean Any of the exclusively aquatic placental mammals constituting the order Cetacea. They are found in oceans worldwide and in some freshwater environments. Modern cetaceans are grouped in two suborders: about 70 species of toothed whales (Odontoceti) and 13 species of . Lingering questions include: Is J.J. is doing well, and is she migrating northward? No one knows for sure, and the number of calls reporting possible J.J. sightings has ``started to taper off Verb 1. taper off - end weakly; "The music just petered out--there was no proper ending" fizzle, fizzle out, peter out discontinue - come to or be at an end; "the support from our sponsoring agency will discontinue after March 31" 2. ,'' although people still call with news of gray whales spotted up and down the coast, said Brent Stewart Brent D. Stewart was appointed to the Provincial Court of Manitoba on April 16, 1998. Prior to his appointment, Judge Stewart was a partner in the law firm of Hoeschen and Stewart located in Morden, Manitoba. , a senior research biologist at the nonprofit Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute. Such sightings are typical this time of year, toward the end of the gray whales' annual migration from Baja California Baja California, state, Mexico Baja California (Span.: bä`hä kälēfōr`nyä), state (1990 pop. 1,660,855), 27,628 sq mi (71,576 sq km), NW Mexico, on the Baja California peninsula. Mexicali is the capital. north to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. ``She does have some unique color patterns and scars, but you'd have to be real close to see it and most of those people don't have the permits to do that,'' Stewart said. A Coast Guard spokesman said the closest thing to a J.J. sighting in the past three weeks is an unconfirmed report of a gray whale swimming in Los Angeles Harbor. J.J. gained fame when she became stranded about a year ago near Venice Beach but was rescued and nursed back to health at Sea World. In March, she was released into the Pacific Ocean off San Diego Bay Noun 1. San Diego Bay - a bay of the Pacific in southern California San Diego - a picturesque city of southern California on San Diego Bay near the Mexican border; site of an important naval base Pacific, Pacific Ocean - the largest ocean in the world but almost immediately her two tracking devices fell off, possibly when she was foraging for food or brushing against the ocean floor. J.J. can be identified visibly by her unique markings and a red-white-and-blue identification tag. In hopes of finding the 19,000-pound mammal, scientists have distributed photos to researchers and whale experts up and down the western North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. coastline. Researchers also are following up on any tips they receive, driving whenever possible to locations where J.J. sightings have occurred. Daily News Staff Writer Alex Roth contributed to this story. |
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