Video captures endangered right whale mother and her calf off U.S. east coast

Recent video has captured a rare instance of an endangered North Atlantic right whale and her calf being seen swimming together off the eastern coast of the United States.

The footage, posted to YouTube by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, shows the right whale mother and her calf in Cape Cod Bay on March 27.

The institution says the right whale, named Spindle, feeds and swims with her calf in the video.

Right whales can be found in waters off New England and Canada in the spring, summer and fall, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says.

But their numbers have declined in recent years, with the population totalling approximately 340.

The World Wildlife Fund says some scientists believe the whales have gone extinct in the eastern North Atlantic and now only live along the east coasts of Canada and the U.S. The whale remains protected in both countries

Among the greatest threats to right whales are entanglements in fishing gear and ship collisions.

Researchers say tracing fishing gear can help conservation efforts by determining which parts of the ocean present the greatest risks for entanglements.

With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press