Marine Biologist Asha de Vos has published a paper on the first ever sighting of Omura’s whales in Sri Lanka.

Very little is known about the species globally, de Vos said, explaining that the species was only described in the early 2000s.

“This makes this sighting incredibly important not just to us but also to the world,” de Vos said in a Facebook post.

It just goes to show how much more we have to learn about our ocean and her inhabitants. If a giant like this could have gone overlooked for so long, imagine what else we might be missing?”, she added.

Asha de Vos is a Sri Lankan marine biologist, ocean educator and pioneer of blue whale research within the Northern Indian Ocean. She is known for her Blue Whale Project and is a Senior TED Fellow.