People flock to 47-foot sea creature that washed ashore — but how she died is a mystery

A sea creature washed ashore in Alaska and now experts have questions.

On Nov. 15, a 47-foot fin whale washed up near Anchorage’s Westchester Lagoon, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries biologist Barbara Mahoney told McClatchy News in an interview.

“These things don’t normally happen in the winter time. She was partially frozen so she remained pretty well preserved,” Mahoney said of the whale.

Fin whales can be found in the lower Cook Inlet, but not in the upper inlet as there isn’t enough food for them there, Mahoney said.

Experts will conduct a necropsy to determine the animal’s cause of death, but Mahoney said she believes the whale was “young and in good health.”

“We’ll have some testing done, and it will take within a couple of months, and some will be more long-term, depending on what’s found out,” Mahoney told KTUU. “Within a year, we should have some results back from this animal, but some of that will be within a few months.”

Fin whales get their name from the “easy-to-spot fin” on their back and are the second-largest whale species on Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

They mostly feed on krill and small schools of fish during the summer but opt for fasting while migrating in the winter, the administration said.

Onlookers flocked to the whale, and Mahoney is happy people are coming to see it. She said the whale’s mouth is open, which is uncommon.

“I think it’s great,” she said. “It’s a great public opportunity to get close to an almost 50-foot animal and see the whale, its mouth is open so you get to see the tongue, the roof of the mouth, the bristles inside. It’s very interesting I think and I think others agree.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 4:49 PM with the headline "People flock to 47-foot sea creature that washed ashore — but how she died is a mystery."