PORTLAND, Maine — A 30-ton humpback whale regularly seen in the Gulf of Maine for years was found dead Feb. 18 on the shores of Assateague Island in Maryland.
The death was reported by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fishing and Boating Services.
The whale, named "Pivot," is thought to be about 15 years old. Pivot was found stranded in a remote area of the Assateague Island National Seashore, Eric Wilson, spokesman for the department, said Thursday.
The cause of Pivot's death has not yet been determined, and a necropsy is underway.
Wilson said researchers took samples of the whale's blubber and baleen on Wednesday, as well as the eyes, which provide information about the age of the whale.
"From what I know, there's still no cause of death," Wilson told NEWS CENTER Maine. "Luckily, there are no visible boat strikes."
"'Pivot' was first cataloged by CCS in 2008 and had a regular sighting history in the Gulf of Maine," Maryland officials wrote in a Facebook post.
Wilson said Pivot is the second humpback whale to be found dead along Maryland's tiny seashore in the past few years.
The death comes in the fifth year of a "humpback whale unusual mortality event" along the Atlantic coast tracked by the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
According to NOAA, 146 humpback whales have died from stranding since January 2016. Five of those were found in Maine.
