Dead Blue Whale Washes Onto Peninsula Coastline: Necropsy Underway

DALY CITY, CA – A dozen scientists were preparing to do a full necropsy Thursday afternoon on a blue whale carcass that washed ashore Wednesday off the coast of Daly City, Marine Mammal Center officials said.

Scientists from the Marin Headlands-based center, the San Francisco-based California Academy of Sciences, the Noyo Center from Fort Bragg and the University of California at Davis planned to arrive at 1:30 p.m. at a beach near Daisaku Ikeda Canyon where the carcass lies.

"It's somewhat degraded in terms of its overall body condition," Marine Mammal Center spokesman Giancarlo Rulli said.

Scientists will still be able to do a full necropsy, Rulli said. The blue whale, a species that is endangered and the largest on earth, was spotted at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday about a quarter-mile from the Daly City shoreline and drifted closer to shore as the day went on, Rulli said.

Officials with the center sent a team member to look at the carcass Wednesday afternoon, when they decided with their partners to hold off on a necropsy because there were only a few hours of daylight left.

– By Bay City News Service / Image by Renee Schiavone