A massive sperm whale made a rare appearance off the coast of California on Wednesday, October 27.

Crew members of the Newport Coastal Adventure spotted the giant marine animal frolicking in the waters 14 miles west of the Newport Beach harbour in Orange County. Video shows the elusive whale spraying water from its blowhole before diving back into the deep.

Newport Landing Whale Watching Education Manager Jessica Roame said: ‘Sperm whales huge, and this one was easily 55 feet in length. That’s two school buses! And they could weigh up to 136,000 lbs when fully grown.’

The rare leviathans eat about one ton of fish and squid per day and can dive as deep as 3,280 feet to hunt for prey. They navigate and communicate using echolocation, which the crew members used to predict the sperm whale’s location.

Jessica said: ‘Sperm whales hunt by using an extremely loud echolocation, which you can hear clearly with the use of an underwater hydrophone.’

‘The hydrophone brought aboard the Newport Coastal Adventure Boat today was able to help our crew listen for the sound of the echolocation to spot where the whale might surface, and it worked great!’

Unfortunately, the sperm whale population has dropped due to whaling, with these animals being hunted down for their precious oils and ambergris.