Humpback whale washes ashore in Long Beach Township

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LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP — A dead humpback whale washed ashore at the 130th Street beach in the Beach Haven Terrace section on Friday morning, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.
The stranding center's stranding coordinator responded to the scene about 7 a.m. and the 'heavily decomposed' remains were moved to the municipal Department of Public Works yard to be examined by staff from the center, according to a statement from the center.
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The examination determined that the animal was a female, measuring 29½-feet in length. The carcass was in the advanced stages of decomposition and therefore no longer viable for further biological sampling. Based on photographs, this whale was identified as the same whale that was first observed deceased and floating approximately 3½ miles off of Harvey Cedars on Monday.
As disposal of a whale carcass is the responsibility of the property owner, which is Long Beach Township, and officials opted to bury the remains at the public works yard on Long Beach Boulevard in Beach Haven Terrace.
In addition to the Public Works Department, the Long Beach Township Police Department, its municipal Beach Patrol, the New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement, all provided assistance at the scene.
Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Humpback whale washes ashore on Long Beach Island NJ