Officials: Dead humpback whale in Long Beach showed signs of blunt force trauma
Officials examine the whale at Long Beach on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
A necropsy on a humpback whale that washed ashore Monday evening in Long Beach showed signs of blunt force trauma, marine biologists said Tuesday.
The whale washed up on the beach Monday near Ohio Avenue after first being spotted about three miles off Atlantic Beach, according to the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, or AMSEAS.
A necropsy conducted Tuesday found the whale's signs of trauma were possibly consistent with a boat strike. The whale had some bruising, but was also partially decomposed, said Rob DiGiovanni, executive director and chief scientist of AMSEAS.
The 26-foot humpback was estimated to be between 3 and 5 years old, DiGiovanni said. It was also found with some parasites, a robust body mass, a layer of blubber, and evidence it had recently digested food.
Biologists are not sure when the whale died before it washed on shore, cautioning it could have further decomposed in the heat.
"It's been dead for a while," DiGiovanni said.
The whale was buried on the beach Tuesday in Long Beach, officials said.
The whale found Monday follows another dead whale washed up Friday, nearly 60 miles away at Smith Point County Park. That decomposed 34-foot humpback suffered blunt force trauma consistent with a boat strike, according to AMSEAS.
Marine biologists took samples of tissue and blubber for examination over the next several weeks and buried the whale on the beach.
There have been at least 16 whales killed this year off New York beaches, AMSEAS officials said. Nearly half of the whales had been struck by boats or had interactions with humans before they died.
Of those whales, eight humpback whales and three minke whales have died off New York and found primarily along Long Island beaches, DiGiovanni said. There have been five humpback whales that washed ashore in New Jersey.
With John Valenti
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
