Humpback whale was spotted in a California river, 60 miles from its Pacific Ocean home

A fully grown humpback whale was spotted Wednesday in the Sacramento River, about 60 miles from its typical Pacific Ocean habitat, surprising anglers fishing for salmon and striped bass. Denny Glover, aboard a 21-foot boat, said the whale surfaced in California’s largest river after he first noticed what he thought might be a dolphin or porpoise. Scientists are monitoring the animal after it entered San Francisco Bay earlier in the week and moved east through the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito said. Its team plans to assess and monitor the whale, and the public was urged to avoid interacting or trying to change its course. The whale has been identified 15 times over 24 years and was last documented in Baja California in February; officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and NOAA did not comment.