- The humpback whale carcass was spotted by fishermen off the coast of Norway
Shocked fishermen couldn’t believe their eyes when they discovered a floating whale carcass about to explode after being inflated by trapped gases.
The Norwegian crew first saw a huge black sphere bobbing on the water about half a mile away, and were baffled as to what it was.
They cautiously approached to get a closer look before realizing it was a hazard and threatened to burst with significant force.
Experienced fisherman Dag Rydland said he kept his boat at a safe distance and dared not get closer than 100 meters for fear the mammal would explode.
“I hope it doesn’t wash up on the shore before then,” he told the Dagbladet newspaper, adding: “If it explodes, the smelly parts will fly many meters.”
The Norwegian crew was about half a mile away when they saw a huge sphere bobbing on the water
Images of the whale show it lying upside down with its tight black belly sticking out of the water
The sailor, who has been a fisherman for 27 years, said that although he had seen many dead whales in his time, this was the largest he had ever encountered.
‘It stuck out about three meters from the sea. That’s how big the balloon was! I have been a fisherman for 27 years and have seen a few dead whales. But I have never experienced this magnitude before.’
Images of the whale show it lying upside down with its toned belly sticking out of the water – which the fishermen likened to a giant balloon.
The dead humpback whale was caught on camera floating in the open sea north of Norway’s Andoya Island, deep within the Arctic Circle.
Whale researcher Tiu Similä also visited the site and told NRK that she and her team drove their boat ‘around him, but not close’ because it looked like it was ‘going to explode’.
Bloated whale carcasses often explode when trapped gases cannot seep out gradually.
When an animal dies, bacteria in the carcass produce methane as part of the decomposition process, which can build up and damage the animal if not released.
Whales are the most extreme example of this, because their enormous size makes the consequences of a gas buildup so much greater.
In 2013, a biologist was filmed cutting open a beached whale in the Faroe Islands.
A gruesome video taken by boaters in California last year showed a whale’s intestines spilling out after it exploded
As soon as the biologist started working, the gas inside exploded, spewing tons of organs and viscera into the air.
Whales have also been seen exploding at sea, with boaters off the coast of California capturing the gruesome scene of a dead whale floating in the ocean.
In the dramatic footage, the mammal lets out ‘one last belch’ before exploding, releasing blood and rotten intestines.
A whale explosion was avoided in Cornwall last year when a post-mortem was carried out on a stranded fin whale to prevent it from violently exploding.