The whale was discovered Friday morning on the beach at 130th Street in the township's
Beach Haven Terrace neighborhood, according to the mayor of Long Beach Township.
The 25 to 30 foot whale was quite young and severely deteriorated, according to the
Marine Mammal Stranding Center.
With the assistance of the Long Beach Township Department of Public Works, the heavily decomposed whale was secured and transported to the DPW yard to be examined by MMSC Staff.
The examination revealed that the animal was a female Humpback whale, measuring 29.5 feet in length.
The carcass was in the advanced stages of decomposition, and therefore no longer viable for further biological sampling. Based on photographs, this whale was identified as the same whale that was first observed deceased and floating approximately 3.5 miles offshore from Harvey Cedars on June 23rd.
The final disposal of a whale carcass is the responsibility of the property owner. Long Beach Township has elected to bury the remains.