dead whale
© Tiffany Boothe/Seaside Aquarium
A 36-foot sperm whale washed ashore near the Peter Iredale ship wreckage in Warrenton this week.Seaside Aquarium officials say the whale was first spotted off the coast of Newport last Tuesday, and then continued moving north due to strong winds. It was found about 4 miles west of Camp Rilea Sunday, and eventually washed ashore 2 miles north of the Peter Iredale wreckage Monday morning.

Officials say the whale has been dead for "quite some time." Everything aside from the whale's lower jaw will remain on the beach "for nature to take its course."The last sperm whale that washed ashore on the northern Oregon coast was in 2012.

Possession of the whale's bones is illegal.