Officials are investigating the death of a 30-foot-long whale found in shallow water near a Chesapeake Bay island at the Maryland-Virginia line.

Joan Barnes, a spokeswoman with the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response team, said Sunday morning that experts conducted a rare on-boat necropsy, or animal autopsy, of the animal as its body rested in shallow water.

The whale was unable to be towed to land or taken ashore.

Investigators got as close to the animal "to conduct a necropsy as best they could," Barnes said.

Officials with the Smithsonian Institution and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries also are involved in the investigation.

Part of the challenge, Barnes said, was the inaccessibility of the whale. It could only be approached by a shallow-draft boat and is on a remote island.

Because it was severely decomposed, Barnes said investigators were unable to immediately tell what type of whale it is. She did not have images of the whale on Sunday.

First reports "of a dead whale floating" near the state line came on Wednesday.

The challenges of the uncommon necropsy and the difficult access made collection of samples difficult.

"They weren't able to get that much from the animal," she said.

She expected some findings after stranding team officials returned to their laboratory this week. The Virginia Aquarium is headquartered in Virginia Beach.