By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
A juvenile whale that washed up on the beach in Long Beach Township early Thursday morning likely died from blunt force trauma, the Marine Mammal Standing Center noted on its Facebook page Friday.
The 1-year-old male humpback whale was discovered on the beach at 51st Street. The Long Beach Township Department of Public Works moved the carcass to its facility, where stranding center professionals and those from Sea Turtle Recovery performed a necropsy.
According to the initial results, the whale had bruising on the head, multiple skull and cervical vertebrae fractures, dislocated ribs, and a dislocated scapula, all injuries that are consistent with blunt force trauma.
The nearly 25-foot-long whale had signs of a previous entanglement, although that did not contribute to its death. Photos of the necropsy posted on the MMSC Facebook page show a rib sticking out of the mammal’s skull.
Samples collected will be further analyzed at labs around the country. When results are finalized, they will be shared on the MMSC website at https://mmsc.org/current-cetacean-data
Long Beach Township, which was responsible for the whale’s disposal, buried the remains on the beach.
“Our entire team is always deeply saddened by every deceased animal that we investigate, but the ones that hit the hardest are animals like this young whale who never got the chance to contribute to his species,” MMSC posted on Facebook.
