Dead Whales Wash Ashore In California: Twelfth Whale Carcass On 300-Mile Coastline Emerges

Dead whales have been washing ashore in California, and the latest was on Tuesday, when a twelfth carcass showed up on Point Reyes National Seashore. In the past few months, a larger than normal number of deaths have struck whales along the coast of California, ABC News reports. The number of whales washing ashore dead so far this spring hasn’t been a record, however.

There’s no specific species of whale that’s winding up dead on the 300 miles of California coastline. They’re all of various species and ages, according to the report. It’s common for one or two gray whales to wash ashore like this each year, said Frances Gulland, the senior scientist for the Marine Mammal Center.

The whale that washed ashore Tuesday was already at an advanced stage of decomposition — and was headless. Mary Jane Schramm, spokeswoman for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, said it made identifying the species even more difficult to do. She said that the condition of the whale clued her into thinking that it was a killer whale attack.

Scientists are studying to see if there’s a link between the beached whales, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Factors being considered “environmental changes, food distribution, shipping, and predator behavior.”

Schramm said one of the key reasons for such a spree of dead whales washing ashore in California has to do with winds.

“We are seeing them coming from so many different species and various causes of death. One of the reasons we are seeing such a cluster at one time is we have very strong winds that have been blowing consistently that are washing things onto shore.”

Scientists also think that the deaths could might have to do with the annual gray whale migration from Mexico to Alaska. One of the whales has definitely shown injuries from being hit by a ship. There were others discovered missing limbs, and that usually means they got wrapped up in fishing gear or were attacked by killer whales.

The whale that emerged on Tuesday happened a few days after a 28-foot juvenile gray whale washed up on the Sonoma County coast. It was just last week that a gray whale carcass washed up at Half Moon Bay while officials were in the middle of burying a sperm whale and a humpback whale. In April, two grays were beached in Santa Cruz Cunty, one killer whale was seen in Fort Bragg, and another gray washed up in Monterey County.

A number of dead gray whales have been so badly decomposed, it was impossible for scientists to learn what they died from.

[Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons]