PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. — Scientists are analyzing the corpse of an endangered whale that washed up on a Mississippi Gulf Coast seashore.
The uncommon discovery Saturday marks the primary time a fin whale stranding has been reported in Mississippi and simply the fourth time since 2002 a fin whale stranding has been reported within the Gulf of Mexico, WLOX-TV reported.
Scientists from the nonprofit Institute for Marine Mammal Research and different organizations will research the stays, which washed ashore in Cross Christian.
Dr. Moby Solangi, director of the institute, instructed the Gazebo Gazette that the whale is 30 ft lengthy and weighs between 12,000 and 15,000 kilos. It might need been inadvertently pushed to shore by a ship.
“The mammal was in all probability sick and the physique acquired caught in a ship channel,” Solangi mentioned.
Scientists will decide the reason for loss of life based mostly on pending lab outcomes.
After the fin whale inhabitants declined as a result of looking, the species was categorised as endangered and granted safety underneath the Marine Mammal Safety Act.