Dead Humpback Whale in New Jersey Sustains Blunt Force Injuries, Post Mortem Exam Reveals

A post-mortem examination of a dead humpback whale that washed up on New Jersey's Long Beach Island revealed that the animal had suffered severe blunt force injuries, including a shattered skull and vertebrae.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center revealed findings from a necropsy performed Thursday evening on a nearly 25-foot (7.6-meter) adolescent male humpback whale discovered dead in Long Beach Township.

Force Injuries

According to the center's director, Sheila Dean, the whale had bruising around the head, many fractures of the skull and cervical vertebrae, numerous dislocated ribs, and a dislocated shoulder bone.

She would not attribute the injuries to a specific cause, stating that comprehensive testing as part of the necropsy is still underway, with tissue samples being sent to laboratories across the country.

The animal's cause of death is of great concern to many people, especially in light of an ongoing issue in which opponents of offshore wind power believe that site preparation work for the projects is injuring or killing whales along the United States East Coast.

"We only report what we see," Dean said.

Numerous scientific agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Marine Mammal Commission; the U.S. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection claim there is no evidence tying offshore wind preparation to whale deaths.

Leading Light Wind is one of three proposed wind farms off New Jersey's coast. It stated in a statement issued late Thursday that "our community should guard against misinformation campaigns in response to these incidents," stressing that many prior whale deaths have been ascribed by scientists to vessel hits or entanglement with fishing gear.

"Blaming all of the cetacean deaths on entanglements and ship strikes is reminiscent of the phenomenon four years ago in which seemingly every death was a COVID death, no matter how old or how sick the patient was prior to contracting the virus," the group said in a statement.

Death Of Whales

According to the date of NOAA, 16 large whales died on the East Coast in 2024: 7 humpbacks between Massachusetts and North Carolina, 4 North Atlantic right whales (critically endangered) in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Georgia, two sperm whales in South Carolina and Florida, two minke whales in North Carolina and Virginia, and one fin whale in Rhode Island.

The agency said that 82 big whales died along the East Coast in 2023.

The stranding center's website stated that this was New Jersey's first whale death of the year, following 14 in 2023.

The post-mortem study of the whale revealed evidence of previous entanglement with fishing gear, which was not present when the whale washed ashore.

Scars from a prior entanglement unrelated to the stranding episode were discovered on the peduncle, the muscle area where the tail joins to the body; on the tail itself; and on the right front pectoral flipper.

Humpback whales' population has been significantly reduced from historical levels because to commercial whaling.

The United States categorized the species as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1970, followed by the Endangered Species Act of 1973.