Scientists are trying to determine what killed an endangered whale that washed up on a Mississippi beach Saturday.
The whale corpse was spotted nearly 200 yards offshore near the Pass Christian beaches and was initially believed to be a Rice’s whale. Upon further inspection, scientists discovered it was instead an endangered fin whale.
“Once we pulled the whale out of the water, we were able to see the anatomical features,” Institute for Mammal Marine Studies Director Dr. Moby Solangi said, according to WLOX News. “That helped NOAA decide it was a fin whale. Of course, they will be doing genetical analysis.”
The fin whale, the second-largest whale species after the blue whale, is commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Solangi, it typically does not come close to the beaches, the Gazebo Gazette reported.
“The mammal was probably sick and the body got caught in a ship channel,” he told the outlet.
This is the first time a fin whale has washed up on the Mississippi shore and only the fourth time since 2002 that it has occurred in any of the Gulf states, the most recent occurrence being in Texas in Dec. 2012, WLOX reported. Its discovery comes just three days after a dead baby dolphin washed ashore on the same beach.
“The suspicion is this likely was a stillborn; we won’t really know until we look internally,” IMMS official Theresa Madrigal said of the dolphin, per a separate report from WLOX. “Usually around January or February is when the moms start to calf, so we do see a spike in strandings usually in February, March and April.” (RELATED: Boat Trippers Witness Bloody Birth Of Baby Gray Whale)
Officials performed a necropsy on the whale Sunday to determine the cause of death and to learn more about the species, WLOX reported. “Of course, we’d just like to learn from this,” Pass Christian Mayor Jimmy Rafferty said. “You know, how could this happen? What could be done to prevent it and so forth? But I think it’s really just a great learning experience,” he told the outlet.
Fin whales were classified endangered and granted protections under the Marine Mammal Protection Act after being heavily hunted during the 20th century, the Gazebo Gazette noted.