A dead humpback whale washed ashore in Atlantic Beach, Long Island, was reported to police on Dec. 26, 2017.
© Nassau County Police DepartmentA dead humpback whale washed ashore in Atlantic Beach, Long Island, was reported to police on Dec. 26, 2017.
The carcass of a humpback whale washed up on a Long Island's East Atlantic Beach on Tuesday morning.

The mammoth mammal's body is around 30 feet long and it likely was already dead when it came ashore, an expert said.

"Usually when it's orientated dorsal-side down, an animal has washed up dead on the beach," said Rob DiGiovanni, chief scientist of the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society.

"It was called in by the public, [but] photos we have when the police showed up was of the animal dorsal-side down," he said.

A whale photographer who went down to snap photos said he couldn't see any big scars or open wounds on the animal's body.

"A very sad sight to see! I personally hate taking photos of deceased whales but it has to be done," cetacean shutterbug Artie Raslich wrote on his blog.

The Conservation Society's team will perform a necropsy Wednesday to determine the cause of death, and will work with state conservation and sanitation officials and the Town of Hempstead to work out how to dispose of the body.

Scientists typically cut a beached whale open to probe inside, and then bury the body on the beach — but sometimes the big beasts are carted off to a landfill, DiGiovanni said.