By Associated Press - Sunday, July 21, 2019

TRURO, Mass. (AP) - Experts are planning a necropsy on a minke whale carcass that washed ashore on Cape Cod over the weekend.

The Cape Cod Times reports that the 23-foot long whale was found Friday in Truro.

Brian Sharp, a marine mammal rescue and research manager at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, says equipment needed to perform the necropsy was not available Sunday, so instead it will be done Monday.

An elevated number of minke whale deaths along the Atlantic coast since 2017 has prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries to declare an unusual mortality event. Fifty-nine minke whales have been documented as dead in that period.

The whale that washed ashore Friday was described as a “sub-adult,” not a calf but not full grown either.

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Information from: Cape Cod (Mass.) Times, http://www.capecodtimes.com

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