A young humpback whale lunge feeding in the Kaikōura canyon in an image from earlier in February 2018.

A "rare" sighting of a juvenile humpback whale off the Kaikōura coast has thrilled whale watchers and tourists alike.

The whale was seen by the crew and passengers of a Whale Watch Kaikōura boat recently.

A Facebook post by the business described the encounter as "incredible".

"With our engines off and watching him from a distance, he approached our vessel almost like he was using it as a shield to gather in his prey for easy feeding," the post said.

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"This in turn meant our passengers and crew alike [were] blessed with this very rare (for Kaikōura at least) eye to eye encounter."

The whale had been spending time in the waters near the coast, according to the Facebook post.

According to the Department of Conservation, Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have wide-ranging but distinctly seasonal distributions.

"Southern Ocean humpbacks migrate thousands of kilometres between high-latitude summer feeding grounds and low-latitude winter breeding and calving grounds.

"In the Southern Hemisphere there are six humpback whale stocks, as defined by their Antarctic summer feeding areas. They are frequent visitors to the coastal waters of New Zealand when they undertake seasonal long distance migrations (approximately 10,000 km per year) between summer feeding grounds in high latitudes (Antarctica) and winter calving and breeding grounds in tropical or near tropical waters.

"They travel mainly along the east-coast of the South Island and through Cook Strait during winter, and return along the west-coast during spring.

"The Oceania population of humpback whales was classified in 2008 as 'endangered' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature."