Another dead whale spotted in Channel

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A week after a 72-foot-long blue whale carcass washed ashore on a Ventura County beach, another dead whale has been spotted in the Santa Barbara Channel and is expected to be stranded in the same area.
Initially spotted by a private boater on Wednesday afternoon, the whale carcass has been tracked by officials from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, who are surprised, but not yet concerned.

"Up until last week, there have been four or five [blue whale] strandings over the years, with a significant amount of time between each one," said Easter Moorman, marketing manager for the museum. "The fact that we're getting two within a week, yeah, we're asking the question, is this unusual?"
Moorman confirmed that Naval sonar activity has been occurring off the coast of San Clemente Island, but said there is no evidence that it is related to the whale deaths.
A ship strike killed the whale that washed ashore last week at Hobson County Beach Park, museum officials said, breaking the backbone of the 130,000-pound creature. Moorman said there is no indication yet of what killed the whale currently in the Channel.
"There is no noticeable outer trauma," she said, adding that several shark bites are visible, but likely occurred following its death. "There is some blood in the water, but we're not sure if it's from the shark bites or an injury. We can't even speculate."
Moorman said the carcass should wash ashore sometime tomorrow morning and museum workers are standing by to conduct another necropsy similar to that performed on the previous whale.
"Whether or not we harvest any bones depends on the integrity of the animal's skeleton," she said, adding, "It is a lot of work, so you don't want to do all that work if there is too much damage."
Whether the museum has room for more whale bones is being debated by museum officials as well, she said. Museum workers harvested the skull, two mandibles, a vertebrae and the maxillary bone during last week's necropsy.
The whale skeleton currently on exhibit at the museum came from a 71-foot male blue whale that beached at Honda Point on August 7, 1980. According to the museum's website, a greater number of whales have been seen in the channel this summer, possibly due to richer food sources.
Earlier this year, a sperm whale washed ashore at an Isla Vista beach and was buried after UC Santa Barbara scientists examined the carcass and took samples.