A dead humpback whale caused a stir in Virginia Beach this weekend, washing ashore on a busy stretch of the beach near 25th Street. On Monday, marine biologists performed a necropsy to determine how it died. Believe it or not, this whale is one of two dead humpbacks found on the same day in Virginia Beach.
NOAA Fisheries says the first report of a dead humpback whale came in Saturday, March 2. The whale was floating by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center Stranding Response Team and Virginia Marine Resources Commission responded to the water, documenting the dead whale and collecting samples. The next day, the whale washed ashore near 24th Street.
The Stranding Response Team was on the beach Monday conducting the necropsy (an animal autopsy). They say the whale was a juvenile male, 32 feet long and weighing about 32,000 pounds. The team was able to collect samples, photos and data from the whale’s remains to determine it if was healthy before it died and try to find clues that point to a cause of death.
The Aquarium notes that it’s not guaranteed they’ll be able to determine a specific cause. It was a true team effort, with help from the Virginia Beach fire, police and public works departments and agencies from North Carolina stepping in, too. Once the team finished the necropsy, they buried the whale’s remains deep in the sand, far down enough that they say it won’t interfere with beach activity.
On Sunday, the same day the whale washed onto the beach, a second humpback whale was reported floating about three miles offshore of the Rudee Inlet. NOAA Fisheries and the Virginia Aquarium tracked the floating whale and it, too, eventually beached—this time at False Cape State Park.
There has been a lot of suspicion that the recent spate of whale deaths up and down the Atlantic coast is due in part to increased sonar and pile driving activity in conjunction with nascent wind power installations. I don't subscribe to that belief, but I don't totally discount it yet. Whales live and die, much as they have for millions of years now (literally), and when they die, a lot of them end up on a beach somewhere. And they're hard to overlook.
The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Country Girls ready for your digital pleasure at The Other McCain.
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