A young gray whale is being monitored after getting stuck in the Turnagain Arm mudflats

A young gray whale that was temporarily stuck in the Turnagain Arm mudflats Thursday evening is being monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Alaska.

The whale was stuck just south of Girdwood — near mile marker 86 — Julie Fair, public affairs officer for NOAA Fisheries said in an email. She said the whale was able to “release itself” by rolling as the tide came in.

Since Thursday evening, there have been no reported sightings of the whale, Fair said, which is around 30 feet in length.

Hannah Hillebrand, an Anchorage resident, was driving home from Tern Lake on Thursday evening with her parents when she saw the whale’s fin splashing near the highway. She said they watched the whale for a few minutes.

Hillebrand was “a little stunned” when she realized she could see the majority of the whale above the surface.

“I didn’t realize at first how much of the whale’s body was above the water,” Hillebrand said. “It looked rather like a giant rock with a fin beside it ... It was massive.”

Gray whales migrate each year to Alaska from California and Mexico. They can grow up to 49 feet in length, weigh up to 90,000 pounds and are known for their distinctive double-blowhole — that all baleen whales have — and heart-shaped spouts.

They aren’t particularly common in Cook Inlet but have shown up over the years.

In May of 2020, a different, young gray whale — around 18 to 20 feet in length — was stuck in Twentymile River for a week. That whale eventually freed itself with the help of the high tide but was reported dead weeks later in west Cook Inlet.

In 2019, Alaska saw 48 gray whale strandings across the state and 45 deaths in 2020.

Fair said if the public sees the gray whale stuck or swimming freely to call the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline, at 877-925-7773, and to keep your distance from the animal.