Haifa University researchers spot two rare sperm whales off southern coast

Coinciding with International Oceans Day on Monday, researchers from northern Israel’s Haifa University spotted two rare sperm whales off the country’s southern coast.

The researchers from the Morris Kahn Research Station at the Charney School of Marine Sciences were conducting the 11th survey of the Deep Sea Cetacean Project, funded by the Energy Ministry.

Their boat set out on Sunday from a sailing club in Ashdod, on the southern coast, as part of a regional research effort to gather data on marine life in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The plan had been to spend six days surveying out to a distance of 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers).

The team caught sight of the mammals just before having to evacuate to shore, cutting the survey short due to an Iranian missile alert.

A Haifa University spokesman said that they could yet complete the survey if Iran and Israel stopped firing at one another, as the two countries said they would later Monday.

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It was just the second sighting of sperm whales since the surveys started, and only the fifth time they’ve been located, although not seen, by special acoustic equipment.

“Moments before we lifted the hydrophone from the water, around 35 kilometers (22 miles) west of Ashdod, at a depth of 700 meters (2,300 feet), we suddenly heard familiar clicks,” said Aviad Scheinin, chief researcher of the project and head of the Apex Predators department at the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station.

Following the acoustic signals, the team found the two sperm whales on the water’s surface while they were resting between deep dives.

Sperm whales, rare in the Mediterranean, are spotted by a Haifa University marine monitoring team off the coast of Ashdod in southern Israel, June 8, 2026. (Eden Barzilai)

Yaly Mevorach, who leads the Deep Sea Cetacean Project at the Morris Kahn station and is researching sperm whales as part of her doctorate, said the team saw “healthy and beautiful” specimens that were busy hunting.

Sperm whales are among the rarest species in the Mediterranean. Just a few hundred are thought to live there, isolated from other members of the species in the Atlantic Ocean.

These mammals spend most of their lives at depths of 800 to 1,200 meters (2,625 to 3,9450 feet), searching for food in total darkness.

They use sonar to navigate and hunt, emitting clicks and using the echoes to orient themselves.

Thanks to the research station’s ongoing monitoring, evidence is accumulating that sperm whales inhabit Israel’s deep waters for extended periods each year.

“The Israeli Mediterranean suffers from many human influences, a shortage of food, and a complex climate, so it is not easy for such species to survive in our region,” Mevorach said.

“We have been researching them for several years, with relatively few sightings,” she went on, explaining that the team was mapping the distribution of sperm whales to provide data-driven recommendations for the Energy Ministry.