Dead whale washes ashore on Long Branch, NJ beach
🐳 A dead whale was spotted by lifeguards on Saturday
🐳 The Marine Mammal Stranding Center will conduct a necropsy
🐳 It's the second whale stranding along the NJ/NY coast in two days
LONG BRANCH — A dead whale has washed up on the Jersey Shore one day after another whale appeared on a New York beach.
The mammal carcass was spotted Saturday by lifeguards at Takanasee Beach along Ocean Avenue in Long Branch, ABC 7 Eyewitness News reported.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center sent a team out to conduct a necropsy Sunday morning, New Jersey 101.5 confirmed. In an update on Facebook around noon Sunday, the MMSC confirmed the whale was a humpback. Full results are not expected for several months, though preliminary information could come within days.
It's been over 10 weeks since the last recorded whale stranding along the New Jersey coastline. The last whale, a 28-foot juvenile female humpback, was spotted floating dead in the Raritan Bay on May 31. It had numerous injuries consistent with a boat strike, according to the MMSC.
Witnesses told the Long Branch Patch that the whale spotted on Saturday may also be a juvenile.
Dead whale in NY
The stranding in Long Branch on Saturday comes one day after another whale washed up at Smith Point County Park in New York.
Scientists with NOAA Fisheries and other agencies responded to the stranding to perform a necropsy, reported the Patch. The whale, a 30-foot humpback, was found by police early Friday.
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