© Henry Schulz
Area whale experts at a property in Tremont prepare to perform a necropsy on a minke whale found dead in Blue Hill Bay on Sunday
The stench of a decomposing minke whale assailed the nostrils of a crew working on a necropsy here Tuesday. The whale had been found floating dead in Blue Hill Bay on Sunday. It was not the same individual freed from entanglement with fishing gear a week before, researchers with Allied Whale at College of the Atlantic confirmed.
"We got a picture of the dorsal fins for both and went to the office yesterday and confirmed it wasn't the same," said Emma Ober of Allied Whale.
The whale was brought to the home of Dan DenDanto, a research associate for Allied Whale, for a necropsy. The COA research vessel
Osprey towed the carcass to the Seal Cove docks Monday, where it was transferred to a trailer for transport to DenDanto's yard.
Volunteers made precise incisions in order to search for the cause of the animal's death. Oil flowed out of the minke whale's blubber like olive oil being poured into a sink. "The oil coming out is due to the internal pressure, and when cuts are made, it relieves the pressure, and that's why the oil flows out like that," DenDanto said.
Comment: See also this recent report of another attack by the same species that occurred on the same today about 10 miles from the above incident: Seal bites man in Friday Harbor, Washington