SOUTH BRISTOL, Maine — A dead juvenile humpback whale was found on Inner Heron Island on Tuesday.
The island is in midcoast Maine, off the coast of South Bristol.
Marine Mammals of Maine staff members responded to the scene. The organization said in a Facebook post that the whale was "already fairly decomposed, significantly limiting the amount of viable samples we could collect to learn more about his life and death."
The organization added it was still able to collect morphometric data and a few biological samples.
Humpback whales are one of three large whale species currently experiencing unusual mortality events in southern and midcoast Maine, along with minke and right whales, according to Marine Mammals of Maine.
"Thank you to the reporting party and the island care takers who helped us document this case as much as possible, contributing invaluable information to our monitoring work," the organization added in the Facebook post.
