BEAN HOLLOW STATE PARK, CA (KGO) -- Researchers are trying to figure out what happened to a pregnant blue whale that washed up on the beach at Bean Hollow State Park in San Mateo County. The massive, 85-foot whale was found washed up on the beach on Monday, with her male fetus just 50 feet away. Blue whale calves are born after 12 months and this fetus was only six months old. The whale was likely swimming south to Baja California for the winter. According to state rangers, the scientists will take tissue samples of the whale and also do a necropsy to figure out how she died.
From Pete Thomas Outdoors:
Pregnant blue whale found dead in Bay Area was hit by ship. The 85-foot pregnant blue whale that washed ashore near her fetus during the weekend at Bean Hollow State Beach south of San Francisco had suffered "internal injuries consistent with a ship strike," said Joe Cordaro, a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service. A necropsy team discovered signs of hemorrhaging in the skeletal muscle and along the right lateral abdomen, and some fractured vertebrae. That there had been hemorrhaging implies that the whale was alive when it was struck. This brings to three the number of blue whales known to have been hit by vessels off California this year. In August a blue whale washed ashore at San Miguel Island with broken bones and other wounds consistent with a ship strike. Earlier in the summer, the captain of a Monterey commercial whale-watching boat reported hitting a blue whale that he said had surfaced in front of the boat. The captain said he saw no evidence that the whale had been injured. About 2,000 blue whales utilize California waters each summer. They're part of a worldwide population of about 10,000. Blue whales are an endangered species.-- Pete Thomas
SF Gate Claims whale deaths show boat traffic and krill to blame:
SF Gate Article October 10, 2010
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