© Stephen Marsh The remains of the 50ft whale.
The body of a whale found on a Pevensey Beach has been identified as the same species as the huge creature that famously washed up in almost the exact same place in 1865.
The 50ft (15m) remains were discovered on Friday (October 7) at Normans Bay by Jez Asfour while out walking his dog.
Rob Deaville, of the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, said that it was most likely to be a Finback Whale, the second largest type of the mammal after the Blue Whale.
Mr Deaville will be collecting bone samples under license, as it is illegal to take any part of a dead whale without one. He said, "We do not normally get access to this tissue."
The zoologist said that it is impossible to tell how the creature died but he was confident that the rope, found wrapped around its tail, was attached to the body after its death.
A 71ft (21m) Finback Whale, which weighed as much as eight double decker buses, washed up on the beach at Pevensey Bay on Novermber 13, 1865.
Reports say as many as 40,000 people flocked to see the creature, the skeleton of which is still on display at Cambridge Museum of Zoology.
For many, in an age before television or the internet, it was the first time they had ever seen a whale.
Comment: Over the same weekend and a few miles to the south-west of the above location a similar event occurred: Thousands of dead fish found in Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana