FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Officials say a dead humpback whale has washed onto a Florida beach.
The Florida Times-Union reports that the 31-foot-long (10-meter-long) juvenile whale was found early Sunday on Fernandina Beach, which is between Jacksonville and the Georgia border.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman says biologists were conducting a necropsy Monday. They say this is the furthest south any dead humpback has been found after two years of increasing mortality rates along the East Coast. Scientists hope the necropsy results find a cause for the whale's death.
Humpback whales can grow to 25 to 40 tons and 60 feet (20 meters) in length.
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Information from: The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, http://www.jacksonville.com
