First ever recorded case of a Blue Whale washing ashore on African coastline
A guide of Laramon Tours, Jonathan Morgan, spotted the 18 metres long carcass of the whale floating near the shoreline at Dolphin Beach on Monday of this week. He reported it to the Namibian Dolphin Project.
It is a very rare occasion to spot Blue Whales in Namibian waters, and according to records this is actually the first Blue Whale stranding to be recorded on the African coastline.
The Namibian Dolphin Project regularly studies and takes samples of stranded whales and dolphins, and said it is the largest marine mammal they handled to date. In fact, it was the Namibian Dolphin Project which established the whale’s right pectoral fin was severed from its body, hanging only by threats. This could most definitely be linked to its death.
The Dolphin Project’s officials believe the whale was struck by a ship’s propeller, severing the pectoral fin, and leaving the massive marine mammal unable to swim and bleeding to death.
Note: samples were taken from the whale carcass by the Namibian Dolphin Project, for the purposes of ongoing genetic research on whales globally.