NEWPORT, Calif. — A migrating gray whale that appeared to be missing an important body part was spotted off the Southern California coast and the moment was caught on video.

Drone footage captured by Newport Coastal Adventure last month shows the marine mammal breaching up the coast near Newport Beach. As seen in the video at the bottom of this article, the whale’s fluke, or tail fin, looks to be completely missing.

“This is definitely a ‘miracle whale’ since, despite completely missing its tail, it’s still persevering and continuing to make such an epic 12,000-mile roundtrip migration from their feeding grounds in Alaska to the breeding grounds in Mexico and back,” said Jessica Roame, the Education Programs Manager for Newport Landing and Davey’s Locker Whale Watching.

According to Roame, the gray whale was swimming at a normal pace of 3 mph. She said this type of injury was likely caused by its tail being tangled in commercial fishing gear, causing it to eventually falling off.

“As horrible as this injury is, it’s incredible that this whale is determined to survive and so far, appears to be successful,” Roame continued.

Watch the full video of the breaching tailless gray whale in the video above.

Newport Landing, Davey’s Locker and Newport Coastal Adventure operate daily whale watching tours out of the Newport Beach Harbor.