A dead beaked whale washed ashore on a Monmouth County beach Thursday, the second dead whale found at the Jersey Shore this year, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.
The stranding center received a call around 6 a.m. about a dead medium-sized marine mammal near St. Clair Avenue in Spring Lake, the group said on Facebook.
The animal was photographed and identified as a member of the beaked whale — or Ziphiidae — family, according to officials at the center. Beaked whales are one of the least-known groups of marine mammals because they live in deep waters, spend little time on the surface and are rarely seen.
The dead whale was 13 feet 2 inches long and in “moderately decomposed condition,” the center said.
Spring Lake public works employees transported the whale to the public works yard. The carcass was then taken to the state Department of Agriculture’s animal health diagnostic lab in Trenton for a necropsy.
When results are available, they will be shared on the stranding center’s website, the group said.
In April, a dead juvenile humpback whale was found in Long Beach Township in Ocean County. It was the first dead whale found along the Jersey Shore this year, the stranding center said.
Nine humpback whale strandings were reported last year.
Since 1978, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center has responded to a total of 19 beaked whales of four different species on local shores, officials said.
Recent whale deaths have prompted claims that development of offshore wind-power projects are to blame. State and federal agencies say they have found no evidence to support that theory.
Many dead whales recovered and studied have shown signs of strikes from vessels or entanglement with fishing gear, according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, which declared whale deaths along the Atlantic Coast since 2016 an “unusual mortality event” that it continues to study.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration recently approved $3.7 million in funding for offshore wind research that includes monitoring the health of whales, sea turtles, birds and bats in New Jersey.
NJ Advance Media staff writer Matt Gray contributed to this report.
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.
