Rare whale is almost never seen near land — until a dead one washed up on SLO County beach
A whale carcass washed up on Pismo State Beach last week — and the cause of death is still unknown, according to the Marine Mammal Center.
California State Parks rangers found the adult pygmy sperm whale on the beach north of Grand Avenue last week. They reported the discovery on Friday at 8 a.m. to the Marine Mammal Center, a non-profit organization that rescues, rehabilitates and researches sick and injured marine mammals.
Later that day, about 20 researchers and volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center and the Channel Islands Cetacean Research Unit performed a necropsy on the whale, a news release from the Center said.
The 10-and-a-half-foot-long whale “had numerous skin abrasions (marking and cuts), but that was likely due to the carcass rolling in the surf before stranding,” the release said.
The team did not identify a cause of death for the whale, but they were able to “collect a variety of tissue samples for additional pathology testing,” the release said.
“Investigating a whale’s death through necropsy provides critical insights into the overall health of these animals and their ocean environment with the goal of understanding how best to protect them,” Marine Mammal Center operations manager Aliah Meza said. “The opportunity to examine a pygmy sperm whale along the California coast is invaluable because it allows us to build important baseline data on this little-known species.”
The team left the whale to decompose on the beach, which “provides a substantial source of food for small forage fish, birds, crustaceans, small land-based predators and nitrogen back into the ecosystem,” the release said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the whale did not appear to be on the beach anymore, so a high tide may have returned it to the sea.
Pygmy sperm whales eat squid, octopus and crab in deep parts of temperate and tropical oceans across the world.
“It’s rare to see a pygmy sperm whale wash ashore along the California coast as they are a deep diving, toothed whale species,” the release said.
The last time the center tended to a pygmy sperm whale was at San Gregorio State Beach in San Mateo County in November 2021.
If you spot a sick or injured marine mammal on the beach, stay 150 feet away from the creature and report the sighting to the Center at 415-289-SEAL (7325).
