Stunning drone footage captures tailless 'miracle whale' swimming off Newport Beach

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Drone footage captured a tailless "miracle" gray whale swimming off the coast of Newport Beach.

The whale was spotted making the epic 12,000 mile trek from Alaska to Mexico and back without its tail-fin, an incredibly important body part for the animal.

Most whales travel at a speed of 4 mph, but this tailless whale seems to be going around 3 mph.

It is still a miracle that the whale is swimming nonetheless.

Whale watchers say the whale seems to be a little underweight, but not by that much.

The whale likely lost its tail in commercial fishing gear.