A 79-foot, young blue whale washed up onto Agate Beach in Bolinas early Friday morning, its cause of death unknown.
A team of three scientists from the Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands and San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences arrived at the beach by 10:30 a.m. Friday and took initial measurements and tissue samples of the carcass. The whale was identified as a sub-adult female blue whale. The species is endangered.
“We rarely have the opportunity to examine blue whales due to their endangered status,” said Barbie Halaska, research assistant at the mammal center. “The opportunity to perform a necropsy on a carcass in this good of condition will help contribute to our baseline data on the species.”
Scientists plan to perform a full necropsy on Saturday in an attempt to determine the cause of death.
The center’s rescue department first received public reports of the cetacean’s carcass in the water just offshore late Thursday evening.
Blue whales are the largest animal on earth and are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
About 2,800 blue whales live off the California coast and can be seen in the summer and fall off the Marin coast in areas such as the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries.
The mammal center has previously responded to eight blue whale beachings in its 42-year history.
“This whale was in remarkably good condition,” said Giancarlo Rulli, spokesman for the mammal center.
