Dead Blue Whale on Local Coastline Likely Hit By Ship, Marine Mammal Center Says

DALY CITY, CA – A dead blue whale that washed ashore in the Daly City area this week likely collided with a large boat, causing blunt force trauma, officials withe Marine Mammal Center said Friday.

The large animal, which measures 65-feet long, was found near Daisaku Ikeda Canyon at Westmoor Beach in Daly City on Wednesday. Scientists responded to the location and began performing a necropsy on Thursday.

"The team of a dozen scientists from The Marine Mammal Center, California Academy of Sciences, Point Blue Conservation Science, Oceanic Society, and University of California, Davis, have determined the injuries sustained by the sub adult male blue whale are consistent with injuries that are seen in whales involved in a vessel collision," a news release from the Marine Mammal Center on Friday states.

On Thursday, officials said the sub adult male had multiple fractures at the back of its skull, indicative of blunt force trauma.

"Blue whales can move very fast through the water column, so studying both the fractures, tissue, and internal fluids can help paint a clearer picture of the condition of this animal prior to sustaining the trauma," said Padraig Duignan, Chief Pathologist at The Marine Mammal Center.

Though the injuries are consistent with blunt force trauma, officials said the whale could have been struck after it died from lack of food or some other cause.

Back in September 2007, three blue whales died due to ship strikes in the Santa Barbara Channel near Southern California, according to the organization.

Though the condition of this whale was "significantly degraded," the Center said it was still able to perform a full necopsy. Scientists ultimately collected pelvic bone, skin tissue and blubber samples, along with fecal, intestinal, and stomach contents for further analysis.

Its carcass will be left in the area to decompose.

“This was a rare opportunity to examine an endangered blue whale, the largest animal on earth, and acquire solid base line information to share with our scientific partners,” Barbie Halaska, a researcher at The Marine Mammal Center, said on Thursday.

Blue whales are the largest animal on earth and an endangered species.

– Images courtesy of the Marine Mammal Center / Bay City News Service contributed to this report.