Fran, California's Favorite Whale, Died After Fatal Encounter with a Ship

In California, a beloved 50-foot humpback whale killed by a ship collision washes up. A famous and well-liked humpback whale was killed by a ship hit and washed up dead in California.

Fran the Whale

The whale, known as "Fran," was about 50 feet long and washed up dead in Halfmoon Bay on August 29, according to a Facebook post from Whales of Guerrero.

Locals frequently spotted Fran, a beloved whale, swimming off the coasts of California and Mexico. According to Whales of Guerrero, she was one of the most commonly seen whales in this region.

The whale sustained blunt force injuries from the ship impact, according to a necropsy performed by the Marine Mammal Center.

One of the most frequent reasons for whale deaths is ship hits. Although humpback whales are not endangered or particularly vulnerable, many other species, including the North Atlantic right whales, are.

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(Photo : Photo: Brad Lewis / Unsplash)
A Humpback Whale Lunge Feeding

According to research conducted by the nonprofit group Friend of the Sea, ship strikes claim the lives of 20,000 whales annually.

There are humpback whales everywhere in the oceans. In the summer, humpback whales eat along the California coast. They then go southward toward Mexico after this.

According to a news statement from Pádraig Duignan, director of pathology at The Marine Mammal Center, "This humpback whale suffered a significant bruise across her right breast area, a shattered first cervical vertebra, and her head was displaced from the spinal column." These results, together with the whale's general good health, "clearly imply blunt force injuries related to a ship impact as the cause of death."

Whale watchers discovered Fran for the first time in 2014 off the Mexican coast of Guerrero.

The future is uncertain for her calf, as Whales of Guerrero wrote on Facebook. "She was the third whale we ever photo IDed and the first whale we resighted in a northern feeding ground. Fran's mom was also known, and this summer, many whale lovers have enjoyed the sight of her feeding with a healthy looking calf from this season. Hopefully, it was already beginning to wean and is now capable of living without its mother.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a whale specialist and research associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, wrote on Facebook that the news was "devastating."

Gloomy News

She said on Facebook, "Struck to my core by the departure of this whale who I have seen several times; hoping that her calf was well on its way to being weaned, and would be resighted soon, with other humpbacks."

"New regulations and improved personal habits on the water that will keep humpback whales safer in the future," the Whales of Guerrero organization said it hopes Fran's death "motivates."

Newsweek has contacted Schulman-Janiger and the Marine Mammal Center for further details.