Whale strands and dies on Galveston beach

TheMightyOrca

TheMightyOrca

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
This has been getting a lot of attention from locals, since it's rare to see large whales in Texas. The Gulf of Mexico is home to a variety of cetacean species, but most of them hang out in deeper waters, mocking me, and thus are rarely seen.

Beached whale in Galveston dies, necropsy planned | abc13.com

The whale beached itself and officials were planning to euthanize it, but it died before they could do so. It is 40 feet long. None of the articles say what species it is, but it appears to be a rorqual of some kind. Any of you guys have a good idea on what it could be? A necropsy will be performed Wednesday morning.

Funny thing, I was planning to go to Galveston today with a friend, but her coworker asked her to trade shifts, and of course the whale thing happens today. But we're going tomorrow, and we're gonna drive by this and see if we can get a look. It would be pretty sweet if we could see this necropsy. I've never seen a baleen whale in person before and even seeing a dead one would be pretty exciting for me. I don't expect to get close, of course, but it would be neat to see it from a distance.
 
there's a good photo of it on this link: Beached whale dies in Galveston surf - San Antonio Express-News

Once beached, the animal was identified as one of three species of baleen whales: a fin whale, a sei whale or a Bryde’s whale, said Christina Saha, necropsy laboratory coordinator for the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network. A baleen whale feeds by filtering water through plates, sucking in plankton, krill and some small fish. Saha said the whale would likely be identified through DNA analysis.
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TMMSN identified it as an endangered sei whale on their Facebook page. Necropsy is underway to determine cause of death.

Any possibility red tide contributed to it? I have a cetacean blog where I post articles on wild ceta news and there were some recent Gulf dolphin deaths believed to be the result of red tide.
 
Wasn't able to go see the whale myself, my friend wasn't able to get out early enough. Gah, stuff like this is why I need my own car, ha ha.

I hope we can see the necropsy results soon.
 
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