Dead whale
Two dead whales were found washed up in two different parts of the Bay Area Friday, leading to some speculation as to what might be causing the marine mammals' deaths.

A large dead whale washed up Friday in the Oakland Estuary just a few miles downstream from the busy Port Of Oakland container ship hub, officials said.

The Marine Mammal Center said the whale was partially submerged near Jack London Square. NOAA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were able to tow the carcass out into San Francisco Bay with the plan of taking it to Angel Island State Park so that scientists can perform a necropsy, or animal autopsy, to determine the cause of death.


It was not known if the whale was the same animal in the report.

The species, length, age and sex was currently unknown until further examination by marine biologists.

The Marine Mammal Center has responded to three other dead whale reports in 2018. The leading causes of death examined by the Center's research team include blunt force trauma from ship strikes, malnutrition, trauma and entanglement.

On the Marin County coast, a second whale was found on Tennessee Valley Beach Friday afternoon.

The Marine Mammal Center said it was a 35-foot female gray whale. Marine biologists will also do a necropsy on that whale Saturday to try and determine a cause of death.