A dead Humpback whale washed onto the shore on a beach in Pacifica Sunday, according to dispatchers.
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Even though the animal’s carcass has already started to decompose, researchers from the California Academy of Science and Marin Headlands Marine Mammal Center managed to do a necropsy.
The initial findings from the necropsy revealed injuries that were consistent with blunt force trauma with evidence of hemorrhaging in muscles disarticulated bones.
The city officials have been making arrangements to remove the dead whale.
Inexplicably, another dead whale was spotted off the Pacifica Coast just this week; this one was floating in the shipping channels.
In July this year, the carcass of a sperm whale was found on the beach near Mori Point. They’ve also contacted the Marine Mammal Center to allow scientists an opportunity to study the carcass.
According to the center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggested that ships crossing shipping lanes close to the Bay Area need to slow down in order to avoid hitting endangered humpback and fin whales, found foraging in the region.
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“This will give us a new understanding of the relationship between whale body condition and health in the context of habitat quality”, said Michael Moore, director of the institute’s Marine Mammal Center. Just looking at numbers, the more whales in an area, the higher the likelihood one will die and wash ashore.
