Huge juvenile humpback whale is found dead on a Virginia beach, leaving experts baffled as to what killed it
- The dead humpback whale was between four and ten years old
- Experts will perform a necropsy on Monday to determine the cause of death
- READ MORE: Dead dolphin washed up on New Jersey beach last month
The lifeless body of a juvenile humpback whale was found off the coast of Virginia on Sunday, prompting an investigation into the cause of death.
The region’s beach response was called to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront Sunday morning after beachgoers spotted the enormous marine mammal about three miles offshore.
The whale was a male, between four and ten years old and up to 10 meters long.
Teams have since recovered the whale from the water and are expected to perform a necropsy on Monday, during which the whale will be split from mouth to tail and samples will be removed for analysis.
Although the dead whale is a mystery, such incidents can occur due to entanglement in fishing nets and collisions with ships. However, some locals believe offshore wind energy companies are to blame.
The young male, between the ages of four and 10, was spotted about three miles off the coast of Virginia Beach
Beachgoers spotted the dead whale in the ocean Sunday morning and immediately called authorities
Virginia Aquarium’s Stranding Response arrived at the beach with heavy machinery to pull the giant whale from the water and drag its body to the beach.
Sharif Young, a Chesapeake resident, was heading to the ocean to ride his longboard on Sunday when he spotted the whale.
He told 13NewsNow: ‘I just saw a huge group of people passing by, so I thought, ‘What’s going on?’
“I saw a little wavy thing and I thought, ‘Is that a whale?’ So I just came down and there was a whale.”
The Mid-Atlantic Whale Monitoring Project shared news of the dead whale on Facebook, noting that the group had previously seen the animal alive on February 15 and 18.
Teams have since recovered the whale from the water and are expected to perform a necropsy on Monday, during which the whale will be split from mouth to tail and samples will be removed for analysis.
At the time, the project shared images of the young male, noting that he appeared to have an unusual skin condition.
It is not known whether the skin condition contributed to his death.
Humpback whales make their way to the Caribbean this winter to breed.
Nearly all of the animals seen near Virginia are juveniles, as they are too young to reproduce and remain in the region until late March. They then move further north when the weather warms up.
Several dead whales have been reported in the area in recent years, raising concerns among locals who claim offshore wind farms are to blame.
More than 200 humpback whales have died along the East Coast near Virginia since 2016-2031.
The Mid-Atlantic Whale Monitoring Project shared news of the dead whale on Facebook, noting that the group had previously seen the animal alive on February 15 and 18.
Dominion Energy is the company mapping the surrounding waters, which has led some conservation groups to threaten to sue the federal government, fearing the offshore wind company is to blame.
The groups have claimed that sonar radiation from an offshore wind company to map the seabed is to blame, as it has been suggested the technology disrupts the movements of animals and sends them into boats or onto the coast.
There is evidence that when exposed to high sonar frequencies, marine mammals swim hundreds of kilometers and change depth rapidly.
However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other scientists have said there is no evidence that marine animal deaths are linked to offshore wind farms.