A Gervais' beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus) that washed up along a North Carolina beach last month was likely killed by a party balloon after the marine mammal swallowed it, according to a necropsy report.
The 10-foot female calf was found lifeless in the shallows of Emerald Isle Beach on October 30. It is unclear when the beaked whale exactly died after it was spotted along the shore, but evidence suggests it ingested the plastic balloon in the ocean.
This is not the first time that a Gervais' beaked whale stranding occurred, as similar incidents have been reported across the coasts of North America, South America, and Africa in the past. Sometimes called the Gulf Stream beaked whale, the Antillean beaked whale, or the European beaked whale, M. europaeus has been recorded across the Americas, stretching from the waters off New York and farther south to Trinidad and Tobago in South America.
North Carolina Whale Stranding
Details of the North Carolina whale stranding in late October were officially reported on social media in recent days but beachgoers were the ones who initially found the dead whale. Marine scientists confirmed that the dead Antillean beaked whale ingested the plastic balloon, which was found inside its stomach.
In a Facebook post earlier this week, the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) Marine Mammal Stranding Program stated that it has recently collaborated with experts, including scientists and veterinarians, as well as students from different state institutions and agencies to examine the Gervais' beaked whale that washed ashore alive along the North Carolina beach.
During a news release on Wednesday, November 8, the UNCW announced that the beachgoers even witness the marine animal was still alive when they found it in the shallow waters of the beach. The phenomenon has been described as an "unusual sighting" since the Gervais' beaked whale usually lives several hundred miles off the continental shelf edge and beyond, according to the statement of the UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Program.
Gervais' Beaked Whale
Gervais' beaked whales are a species that prefer deep and warm temperature waters in the tropical and subtropical parts of the Atlantic Ocean but they are occasionally found in colder temperate seas, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries.
There is limited data and knowledge about the exact abundance of the Gulf Stream beaked whales worldwide. However, frequent sightings of the species under the Mesoplodon genus off the Atlantic US coast and the Gulf of Mexico, the NOAA Fisheries states. Furthermore, the Gervais beaked whale is the most common member of the whale family to be stranded along the Atlantic coast of the southeastern US.
The US government agency adds that the common threats to Gervais' beaked whales are the following:
- Fishing gear entanglement
- Hunting
- Ocean noise
In addition to the mentioned threats, there is growing evidence that marine plastic pollution also poses life-threatening risks to the whale species.
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