Andrew Reid, a response co-ordinator with the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS), says officials with the Oceanographic Environmental Research Society and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had visited the dead mammal and collected samples and measurements.
From the length of the whale, Reid estimates that it is a juvenile minke whale.
Reported maximum lengths for minke whales are 30-35 feet for females and 29-32 feet for males. Both sexes can weigh four to five tons at sexual maturity. They typically live 30-50 years.
© Karen BullerwellThe body of a minke whale measuring close to 20 feet was discovered on the western shore of Yarmouth Bar on Christmas Day.
He added that from the initial images he'd seen, it didn't appear that the whale had sustained injuries from a vessel's prop.
"There would have been deeper gashes if they had been from a prop," he says, adding that some of the marks on the whale's body likely came from shoreline rocks or where samples were taken.
Other discoveries of whales washed ashore:
On Dec. 23, 2015, the body of 30-foot male humpback washed ashore near Sandford.
On Dec. 27, 2016, a 30-foot humpback was discovered at Whale Cove, on the Bay of Fundy side of Digby Neck.
March 19, 2018 Thin body of beached whale carcass near Harbourville concerns marine animal society
Comment: 14 minke whale deaths in Canadian Maritime Provinces this year surpasses annual average