A finback whale that washed up dead on a New York beach likely was killed when it was hit by a passing ship, an expert said Thursday.
Kim Durham of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation says scientists performed a necropsy Thursday on the whale. It washed ashore on Atlantic Beach on Long Island on Wednesday.
She says the 30-ton male had been dead about a week.
Biologists found bruising and damage to its tail. The likely cause of death was blunt-force trauma from striking a ship.
She said the whale probably was feeding close to shore when it was hit.
The carcass was being sent to an incinerator later Thursday. Atlantic Beach is on Long Island's south shore, about 30 miles from Manhattan.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
