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‘Magnificent’ 46-foot sea creature washes ashore. Experts offer details about its death
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A necropsy was performed on a dead fin whale Feb. 13 after it was found stranded at the Sunset Beach State Recreation Site in Oregon.
Seaside Aquarium
When an endangered 46-foot fin whale washed ashore on an Oregon coastline, it left many wondering how the animal ended up dead.
Now, experts have more answers around the “magnificent” creature’s death: It “likely died from an underlying illness of some kind,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokesperson Michael Milstein said in an email to McClatchy News on Feb. 14.
The whale was spotted entangled Monday, Feb. 12, at the Sunset Beach State Recreation Site, McClatchy News reported. Shortly after, a team from NOAA conducted a necropsy to determine its cause of death.
The whale was emaciated, wrapped in fishing rope and had fresh rake marks from orcas, Milstein said. A rake mark is caused when a killer whale uses its teeth to scratch another whale, according to the Center for Whale Research.
The whale also had other scrape marks on its body, and it was found entangled in rope.
However, Milstein said the injuries from the entanglement didn’t appear to be fatal and neither did the rake marks.
Because there were “no other obvious causes of death,” Milstein said the team concluded the whale died from an underlying illness.
Collected tissue from the whale will be tested to determine what the underlying disease may be. It could take a few weeks for those results to come back, Milstein said.
The public should remain 100 yards away from the whale and any stranded animals, the Seaside Aquarium advises. Entangling gear also shouldn’t be removed from a stranded animal because it can interfere with an investigation.
The Sunset Beach State Recreation Site is about 90 miles northwest of Portland.
What to know about fin whales
Fin whales are the second-largest whale species in the world, following blue whales, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
They can grow up to 85 feet in length and weigh between 40 and 80 tons, according to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.
They were listed as protected animals under the Endangered Species Act in 1970 after their population dwindled significantly due to being hunted by commercial whalers, the federal agency said.
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