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Date Published: 20/01/2022

ARCHIVED - Watch video: dead whale washes up on Estepona beach

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The 15-metre long whale is a rarity on the coasts of Andalucía

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Watch video: dead whale washes up on Estepona beach

Dozens of people stood on the coast of Estepona’s La Rada beach on Thursday morning, January 20, and watched in disbelief as the body of an enormous whale drifted towards the shore. Later, Alfredo Valencia from Verdemar Ecologists in Action confirmed that it was the decomposing body of a 15-metre-long fin whale calf.

The coordinator of the Centre for the Recovery of Endangered Marine Species (CREMA) has confirmed that his team will travel to the Málaga beach to take samples from the marine mammal, but that a post-mortem won’t be carried out because of the advanced state of decomposition.

“When it is fresh, we do it, but it is already swollen and so are its organs. We will take samples of fat, skin and its holes, since it is unusual to find a whale and will serve for future studies,” Mr Luis Mons clarified.

And while it is unusual to find this species of whale in Andalusian waters, it is not unheard of, and specimens have been spotted before in the Alborán Sea.

The cause of death will become clearer once the samples are taken, but for now, CREMA believes that the most likely scenario is that the young whale ingested plastic, which is known to accumulate in the stomach and digestive system of these mammals until it eventually results in death.

Lamentablemente, hoy ha aparecido varada en la playa de #Estepona una ballena de 9 metros y 8 toneladas.

El @AytoEstepona se está ocupando de la retirada de este rorcual común macho. Los trabajos comenzarán cuando lo autoricen los técnicos del CREMA y la Junta de Andalucía pic.twitter.com/zahRne8hMe
— José M García Urbano (@JMGarciaUrbano) January 20, 2022

Images: Ayto de Estepona

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