An environmental group has sued the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service pursuing a response to its 2014 petition seeking protection under the Endangered Species Act for Gulf of Mexico Bryde’s whales.

A species of baleen whale, Bryde’s whales are found in the warm waters of several oceans. But many scientists believe the less than 50 such whales found in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico are evolutionarily distinct from their counterparts elsewhere, the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a lawsuit filed on Thursday.

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