Pygmy whale washes up at Low Beach

Photo by Rob Benchley Edie Ray of the Marine Stranding Team takes a tissue sample from a dead pygmy whale that washed ashore at Low Beach this morning.

Nantucket (July 29, 2009) – Marine Mammal Stranding Team member Edie Ray takes a tissue sample from a six-foot ten-inch female pygmy sperm whale that washed up at Low Beach this morning. The whale was spotted early in the morning by a beach-goer who said the animal was thrashing in the surf.

  The whale died later, Ray said. A necropsy will be performed by scientists from the New England Aquarium on Thursday.