A gray whale calf washed ashore on Dec. 12, 2016 in Gearheart.
© Tiffany Boothe/Seaside AquariumA gray whale calf washed ashore on Dec. 12, 2016 in Gearheart.
A gray whale calf that washed ashore in Gearhart Monday and then disappeared, reappeared Wednesday in Seaside, allowing the Seaside Aquarium along with Portland State University to perform a necropsy on the animal.

The whale was a male and approximately 10 feet long. "Because of the time of year and size we believe the animal was most likely stillborn," wrote the Seaside Aquarium Tiffany Boothe in an email. "Gray whales are currently migrating passed the Oregon Coast on their way to their breeding grounds in Mexico."

Boothe added, "The whale had been heavily scavenged upon by sharks before washing ashore."

After the whale was found Monday, attempts to secure it higher on the beach were unsuccessful.

"The only evidence that this calf had been on Gearhart beach was a small isolated pile of intestines," Boothe said.

The necropsy, which was performed Wednesday, did not reveal the whale's cause of death but the aquarium plans to do a closer analysis of the calf's heart and lungs to see if it was in fact stillborn.