Dead Whale Washes Ashore

Dead Whale Washes Ashore in NY, Related to Oil Leak?

www.abc.net.au

A 25-feet long humpback whale has washed ashore on a beach in New York.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline

[edit on 6/11/2010 by semperfortis]

Wow thats close to home, im in the North East and im wondering if that whale was affected by the Oil Spill down in the Gulf?

I know that whales can travel vast distances and it made me wonder, was this guy just trying to get away from the toxic water down there?

Any Ideas?

Thanks For Reading!

GeminiSky

www.abc.net.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline

[edit on 6/11/2010 by semperfortis]

reply to post by GeminiSky

A dead whale measuring nearly 30 feet long was discovered washed up on a popular Long Island beach early Thursday, and authorities said it would take some time to figure out the mammal's cause of death.

New York State Parks Police officers found the male humpback whale at the east end of Jones Beach, in Wantagh. Experts said it was 2 to 5 years old and had probably been dead about a week.

Biologists from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation were at the beach Thursday afternoon but did not have equipment available to perform a necropsy to determine what caused the animal's death. Instead, the whale was picked up and moved from the shoreline onto the sand. Tests were scheduled for Friday.

“There's no blood; there are no slashes from a propeller or something that we can see,” said parks spokesman George Gorman.

Source

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it could be pollution related, but not from the oil spill.

I guess time will tell.

Edit to add:

There was a thread a few days ago that had to do with a crew that was sick after pulling up some barrels of unknown chemicals off the coast of New York. I wonder if that could have any relation to this:

"A fishing boat dredging for clams off New York's Long Island pulled up 10 canisters, including one that broke open and released an unidentified chemical that caused two crew members to blister and struggle to breathe, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday"

"After learning of the incident, the Coast Guard issued a "captain of the port order," a rare command instructing the boat to return to port."

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Off the coast of Long Island too..

[edit on 10-6-2010 by broahes]

Geminisky - thanks for reporting - let's hope this doesn't become a regular occurence.

Anyone have any ideas of what usually washes up ashore in that area ?

Without a comparison we can't come to conclusions - however anyone in that area to corroborate what is usual annually would help.

I don't think humpback whales are native to the gulf of mexico. I think they stick more to open ocean.

You also may want to change the thread title before the mods do.

The source you used says "Dead whale washes ashore in the Big Apple"..

In the Breaking News Forum they are pretty clear about that. I noticed you are new and thought I should point that out.

Peace.

I saw this story on the MSM earlier and said "wonder how long it will be until someone on ATS says this is related to the spill..."

ATS never ceases to amaze me.....

reply to post by slidingdoor


This article may partly answer your question:

In April, a 9.1m-long baby whale weighing approximately 13 tonnes became stranded on Main Beach in East Hampton, Long Island, and later died.

Beached whales are found on the east end of Long Island every year or two. Beached dolphins are more common, and have a "good success rate" because they can be taken to a rehabilitation tank.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the humpback whale can reach up to 18m in length. There are only an estimated 550 humpback whales in the waters off of the northeast coast of the US. They spend northern Summer months in the waters, consuming up to 1360kg of food per day.

Source

Seems like it isn't that out of the ordinary, but I'm still interested in hearing the results of what ended up being the cause of death.. as this whale wasn't beached, it appears to have died in the water a week prior.

I'm curious to see if it could be linked back to the story I mentioned in my first post.

Originally posted by slidingdoor

Anyone have any ideas of what usually washes up ashore in that area ?

Garbage and whacked wiseguys.

Originally posted by broahes
You also may want to change the thread title before the mods do.

The source you used says "Dead whale washes ashore in the Big Apple"..

In the Breaking News Forum they are pretty clear about that. I noticed you are new and thought I should point that out.

Peace.

Please show me where "Big Apple" is mentioned in the source that I used for the OP. I cant seem to find it, all I see is "Dead Whale Washes Ashore"

[edit on 11-6-2010 by GeminiSky]

reply to post by I.C. Weiner


It is a possibility that the whale did die from the oil in the Gulf. Whales can travel great distances. Why rule it out?

Why even speculate anymore. With the oil spills, garbage islands and people dumping everything (especially in poorer countries) into their water supplies, pick your cause.

I believe this has more to do with the supposed mustard gas being dredged than the oil, but I do not know for certain. Lets hope no more wash up. Can you imagine it hundreds of dead whales being washed ashore, jesus its unimagainable.

reply to post by GeminiSky


Yesterday it said Big Apple at the end of it. I wasn't trying to be an ass, but mods are usually strict about thread titles, that's all.

Peace.

reply to post by broahes


No offense taken. Thank you for the tip, and yes the article headline has changed since I first posted it. Its wierd....

Thanks anyway!!!

GeminSky

I'm not saying this was caused by the BP oil spill, i'm just providing some interesting information I have found with a little research into the feeding habits of the Humpback, where it's food lives. and one of the implications in deaths of the Humpback whales.

This is what they eat...

Humpbacks feed primarily in summer and live off fat reserves during winter. They feed only rarely and opportunistically in their wintering waters. The humpback is an energetic hunter, taking krill and small schooling fish, such as herring (Clupea harengus), salmon (Salmo salar), capelin (Mallotus villosus) and sand lance (Ammodytes americanus) as well as Mackerel (Scomber scombrus), pollock (Pollachius virens) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) in the North Atlantic.[21][22][23] Krill and Copepods have been recorded from Australian and Antarctic waters.[24] Humpbacks hunt by direct attack or by stunning prey by hitting the water with pectoral fins or flukes.

Ah but look at this out of all the different fish that they eat we only find this in the article about Mackeral...

Saxitoxin, a Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) from contaminated mackerel has been implicated in humpback whale deaths

Humpback Whale Wiki

So Wiki felt they needed to add that contaminated Mackeral was a bit of a danger to the Humpback Whale...

Now take a look at this about the king Mackeral..

Migration patterns

At least two migratory groups of king mackerel have been found to exist off the American coast. A Gulf of Mexico group ranges from the Texas coast in summer to the middle-east coast of Florida from November through March. Spawning occurs throughout the summer off the northern gulf coast.

An Atlantic group is abundant off North Carolina in spring and fall. This group migrates to southeast Florida where it spawns from May through August, and slowly returns through summer. Apparently, this group winters in deep water off the Carolinas, as tagging studies have shown they are never found off Florida in winter.

King Mackeral Wiki

NOW LOOK AT THIS!!!

The Bud Light King Mackerel Tournament scheduled for June 26 has been canceled.
Continued closure of federal waters paired with the recent arrival of tar balls on the shores of area beaches forced the cancellation.
The tournament's Shallow Water Slam, also scheduled for June 26, will go on as scheduled.
The slam's $5,000 top prize is given to the boat that weighs in the heaviest three-fish total (one redfish, one flounder and one speckled trout).
More information is available at

Gulf of Mexico oil spill claims king mackerel event

Tornament Canceled

The fishermen are willing to make the day-and-a-half journey because they know they will catch bluefin tuna, swordfish, king mackerel and grouper, Spaeth said. If toxic levels of oil have contaminated the fish there, Spaeth said, "that's a disaster.''

USF researchers find new underwater plume from gulf oil spill

But to be fair i'm going to post this article of a fishing boat that reported no contamination of fish...

“It’s very fishy out,” Dyke said. “And no oil.”

With the oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon rig still looming offshore, captains are keeping an eye out, but fishing is still open and good.

Capt. Tommy Carter on the Blue Runner II brought in a limit of king mackerel and red snapper, along with two Spanish mackerel from a four-hour trip.

“The water is absolutely beautiful,” said Capt. Mike Parker of the Silver King. “The only oil here is suntan oil.”

TAKING THE BAIT: Shark, mackerel and plenty of red snapper, but ‘no oil'

You be the judge....

But me personally, I think we might be seeing a lot more whales showing up dead on the cost all over the world. this is just the beginning.

reply to post by Izarith


Very good research, looks like this may have a greater than anticipated effect on the oceanic food chain!!!!

Great Job!!

--GeminiSky

reply to post by MKultraVideos


Well, I can tell you for certain that they dont stick to open ocean. I was raised in Hawaii, and they come in close to shore both there and in the Pacific Northwest. You can often see them in Hawaii from the shore flipping their tails up out of the water and blowing.

According to the map of their range in Wikipedia, they do travel in the Gulf of Mexico, sooooo.........the oil spill is a possibility.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by ZombieSlayer
reply to post by I.C. Weiner

 

It is a possibility that the whale did die from the oil in the Gulf. Whales can travel great distances. Why rule it out?

Probably because it's quite impossible that it had oil in its lungs or what have you...that it could make it all the way to New York in such a short time, especially since it would have been sick. It probably just died of old age.