Whalin in NYC. Big fishin outchere

A humpback whale was spotted for several hours Thursday in New York Harbor near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the Coast Guard said.

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The whale, which was first reported to the authorities by a resident’s phone call around 8 a.m., did not appear to be injured or entangled.

“It’s going out toward the ocean,” said Petty Officer David Schulein, a Coast Guard spokesman. “We just established a security safety zone.”

Petty Officer Annie Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard, said: “It is fairly close to the shipping zone. We want to make sure that not only the animal is not in danger, but that the vessels traveling in and out of New York Harbor are also safe.”

She said that the whale, at 11 a.m., was about one mile from the Verrazano Bridge.

Petty Officer Schulein said the whale was not too far from Brooklyn. “It’s right near Bay Ridge,” he added. “It’s right off of Belt Parkway.” By 1:15 p.m., it had moved near Coney Island, the Coast Guard reported.

The last known sighting of the whale was at 2:24 p.m. in Ambrose Channel south of the Verrazano Bridge by a Coast Guard crew and representatives from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. The Coast Guard suspended its security zone around the whale at 4 p.m. as it continued to move south.

Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said that two Police Department harbor launches were dispatched and gliding in the waters near the whale around noon. “The whale does not seem to be in distress,” said Mr. Browne.

On Wednesday night, the Coast Guard had also been called to Rockaway Beach to establish a safety zone around a whale that had been reportedly trying to beach itself around 8 p.m. But once the Coast Guard arrived, the whale could not be found.

“I don’t know officially that they are linked. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the same whale,” Petty Officer Berlin said.

Humpback whales occasionally wander into New York Harbor, and some have been adventurous enough to go up the Hudson River.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, several species of large whales are found off the mid-Atlantic coast and close to shore this time of year, including humpbacks, fin whales, right whales and minke whales.

Al Baker and Michael Wilson contributed reporting.