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Cuvier's beaked whale stranded at Del Rey Beach, Gearhart Oregon
On 13 March, 2002 local television stations in Washington and Oregon aired a story about a beaked whale that came ashore alive and thrashed about in the surf between Seaside and Gearhart, Oregon early that morning. Within a very few hours Oregon State Park personnel and the local marine mammal stranding network responded, but the whale had by then died.
The carcass was identified as that of a Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) and taken to Fort Stevens State Park for necropsy and burial. Ken Balcomb from the Center for Whale Research arrived at Fort Stevens in the evening and participated in the necropsy on 14 March. The specimen was an adult male about 16 feet nine inches in length. Regrettably, souvenir hunters removed the two diagnostic front teeth before the specimen was removed from the beach. [If anyone knows of who has these teeth, please have them returned to anonymously collect a reward - they are extremely important for age study. NOTE – it is against federal law to take specimens of marine mammals without a permit, and they are scientifically important.]
There
was no obvious external sign of injury to this whale, and no disease process or
readily apparent cause of death. The entire head was frozen for computerized
tomography examination and forensic studies (for rationale, see Bahamas
Stranding Report). Strandings of beaked whales are relatively rare along this
coast, and should be reported immediately. Please email us or call (360) 378-5835
with reports of live or stranded beaked whales or killer whales.
These images were captured from Digital Video Tape of the stranded whale
on March 14, 2002. The specimen was 16' 9" long and weighed 4400 pounds.
The necropsy was performed in the evening of March 14, 2002 by Dr. Deborah
Duffield of Portland State University.
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Note tooth scarring on forehead,
characteristic of adult males.
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Note hemorrhagic conjunctiva (blood around eye),
commonly seen with pressure trauma.
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Ziphiids are unusual in that they typically do
not have a median notch in trailing edge of the fluke.
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The specimen is beautiful but the teeth were
stolen. A reward is offered for their return,
contact us for details.
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