A “very emaciated” pygmy sperm whale that washed up on an Outer Banks beach this week likely died from a severe parasitic infection.
The whale was stranded in Corolla’s Ocean Hill neighborhood Wednesday afternoon, with beachgoers calling for help and trying to keep the whale alive by dousing her with buckets of ocean water.
Marina Doshkov, database technician and marine mammal stranding coordinator at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, said the female whale, scientifically known as kogia breviceps, was euthanized and taken to the North Carolina State University Center For Marine Sciences and Technology for a necropsy.
Veterinary students and representatives from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, the Department of Environmental Quality and the North Carolina Aquariums were involved in the exam, which showed a severe crassicauda infection, a common finding in sperm pygmy whale deaths, Doshkov said.
Pygmy sperm whale euthanized after stranding on the Outer Banks
Crassicauda is found in many species of whale, purpoise and squid, among other animals, and attacks the central nervous system, spinal cord and brain.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports sperm pygmy whales have been stranding along the southeast coast this month, Doshkov said.
“Ten-year average shows that August is the most popular time to see kogia stranding, so it’s pretty typical for this time of year,” she said in an email.
Sperm pygmy sperm whales are a toothed, deep-diving species found in temperate and tropical seas worldwide, according to NOAA Fisheries. Little is known about the species, which is considered rare and under the protection of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The stranding is the seventh whale death on the Outer Banks and in Virginia Beach this year. Within one week in March, three whales stranded in Nags Head: a pregnant dwarf sperm whale, her nearly full-term fetus and a juvenile male believed to be her offspring that was too young to survive on his own.
Doshkov said Thursday she is still waiting for a histopathology report to shed light on their deaths.
Earlier in March, a 26-foot female minke whale was found dead north of Corolla on the four-wheel drive beach. The whale showed evidence of infectious disease, Doshkov said.
The Outer Banks strandings came days after the deaths of two humpback whales that washed up March 2 and 3 in Virginia Beach. Scars on both animals revealed they had been entangled during their lives.
