A finback whale had washed up dead on Atlantic Beach over on Long Beach. He was about 43ish feet long, lets call him 25 tons. According to the lead biologist he suffered a large blunt force trauma. In normal people speak he was probably hit by a boat. Because he was so huge we had to go to him and do everything on the beach.
The one picture I did have time to take on my phone is a tad nasty so I found this one from the daily news. Now please remember its a federal law that you must stand at least 150 feet from this animal dead or alive if its on the beach to begin with. In addition dead things tend to carry disease, especially ones that have been dead for a few days. Its just the natural cycle of life. So with no further ado please find a picture of the whale and a moron.
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My job during the necropsy was "scribe". I followed the lead biologist around and wrote down everything she said. Whether or not I could spell it was not important as long as she could figure it out later. This was good news, my Latin marine mammal speak is very rusty. Or non existent. Whichever.
Kim moves very fast for a woman in rubber overalls in 90 degree weather on the beach running in whale guts. Its not easy to keep up with her when you're not used to running around in rubber pants in 90 degree weather on the beach in whale guts. Also 25 tons of whale that's been dead for 5 days smells really bad. It wasn't so much the dead whale it was the the fact that his digestive tract was wide open and blowin in the breeze. So imagine the worst baby diaper you've ever changed. Then magnify that by 25 tons. Then stand downwind of that. In rubber pants. In 90 degree heat. In squishy whale guts.
I have to say the whole thing was really fascinating. A lot of it was large versions of our insides. His colon was the size of my thigh. Oh and I know it was a him because his left testicle was almost as big as my dog. You get a new respect for your own inner workings when you see them trying to cut through to break down a whale into easily movable parts. His ligaments where massive and amazingly strong. His spine was awesome. It was really very humbling to be a part of the whole experience. Also there's a good chance I lost about 10 lbs just sweating in those damn pants. I had to toss them and my boots away. The dead whale smell refuses to leave.
I had joked when we first started that they asked me to go in case an IRS audit broke out in the middle of the necropsy but Julika told me I did a good job. She doesn't dole out praise often so I can live off that one for a long while.
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