Mysterious Death of 52-Foot Fin Whale Baffles Beachgoers

A 52-foot-long dead fin whale washed up on Mission Beach in San Diego, with no obvious signs of the cause of death. The young female whale was towed out to sea after being inspected and sampled by researchers from NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Fin whales are the second largest whales in the world and are endangered, with an estimated population of around 8,000 off the West Coast. The tissue samples will be analyzed to determine the cause of death. Stranding of fin whales along the West Coast is uncommon, as they tend to stay in deeper waters compared to gray whales.