A dead minke whale washed ashore on Black Point Beach in Chilmark on Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday.
The whale was 27 feet long and weighed approximately 6,000-7,000 pounds, according Bret Stearns, the indirect services administrator for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) natural resources department.
The whale was estimated to be between 6 and 8 years old and there were no outward signs of human interaction.
On Tuesday, Andrew Jacobs, the department’s laboratory manager, and Andrew Karlinsky, a biologist for the natural resources department, accompanied three members of the International Fund for Animal Welfare organization and one National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration representative to perform a limited necropsy. Results have not been released.
Stearns said the whale was left onsite and arrangements for a burial are ongoing. The beach is on the southern side of the island.
“We are saddened by the loss of this great creature,” Stearns said.
Minke whales are one of the smallest members of the great whale family, according to NOAA, and have a pale chevron on the back behind the head and above the flippers. They are not federally listed as endangered or threatened, though they are protected under the marine mammal protection act.
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