DEAD BLUE WHALE FOUND WASHED ASHORE ON ISLAND.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A dead 70-foot blue whale blue whale, a baleen whale, Balaenoptera musculus. Also called the sulphur-bottom whale and Sibbald's rorqual, it is the largest animal that has ever lived. Blue whales have been known to reach a length of 100 ft (30. has been found washed ashore on San Miquel Island in the Channel Islands chain, authorities said. Dozens of marine biologists have been studying a large number of the giant endangered blue whales that have gathered 20 miles offshore. ``Usually blue whales, when they die, they sink, so very rarely do you get to examine the carcass of a blue whale,'' said John Robinson, spokesman for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is a reserve area off the Pacific coast of the United States, near California. Established in 1980, the 1,252 square nautical mile (4,294 km²) portion of the Santa Barbara Channel is an area of national significance because of . Only 10 blue whales have washed ashore in California over the last 14 years, he said. Officials from the sanctuary and the National Marine Fisheries Service The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is a United States federal agency. A division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Commerce, NMFS is responsible for the stewardship and management of the nation's living marine were en route to San Miguel Island San Miguel Island is the westernmost of California's Channel Islands and the sixth-largest of the eight at 9,325 acres (37.74 km²), including offshore islands and rocks. Prince Island, 700 m off the northeastern coast, measures 35 acres in area. to study the whale and its death. ``We are unsure how it died but it may have been dead about a week or so,'' Robinson said. Scientists will photograph the carcass and take tissue samples and measurements. ``We hope to determine whether the animal died of natural causes or if others factors were involved,'' said sanctuary manager Ed Cassano. ``We still know so little about these endangered animals that any opportunity to study them further is important for us.'' Four dolphins died in the area last week, he said. A diving charter spotted the whale on the northern portion of the island over the weekend and called officials. ``We just completed a three-week whale research cruise during which we compiled extensive data on water conditions, gathered krill krill: see crustacean. krill Any member of the crustacean suborder Euphausiacea, comprising shrimplike animals that live in the open sea. The name also refers to the genus Euphausia within the suborder and sometimes to a single species, E. superba. samples, and tracked whale movements,'' said Cassano. ``This information may prove helpful in determining the cause of death.'' The sanctuary was designated in 1980 to protect a 1,252-square-nautical-mile portion of the ocean which includes the waters surrounding Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel and Santa Barbara islands Santa Barbara Islands (săn`tə bär`brə, –bərə), or Channel Islands, chain of eight rugged islands and many islets, extending c.150 mi (240 km) along the S Calif. . The area was declared a sanctuary because of its resources and fragile ecosystem. Scientists first noticed the increase in blue whales in local waters in 1991. The animals have been listed as endangered since 1966, victims of an overzealous whaling industry in the first half of the century. Scientists believe there were once 400,000 blue whales roaming the world's oceans, a number that has been reduced to about 12,000. |
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