Gujarat: 37-feet Baleen whale carcass washes ashore in Kodinar

AHMEDABAD: The carcass of a 37-foot Baleen whale was discovered on the shore near Dhamlej in Kodinar taluka on Tuesday evening. This is the third Baleen whale carcass to have been discovered in Saurashtra since August 2017.
Tarachand Kumawat, a scientist in the marine biodiversity division of ICAR Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) said the whale was 37.33 feet long and weighed between eight and ten tonnes.
Kumawat said a team of CMFRI and the forest department rushed to the spot to assess the cause of death. After examining the carcass, they said it appears as if the whale had been beached and died 10-12 days ago. The team hasn’t fully ascertained the cause of death.
Two whale carcasses had been found earlier. In the first incident, a whale was found dead on August 4, 2017, on the Veraval coast. Another carcass was found on September 21, 2017, in the Navabandar area.
The satellite tagging of two whale off the Gujarat coast by scientists of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Gujarat forest department, some time ago, has allowed researchers a 350-day and 150-day peek into the lives of the world’s largest fish. The whale shark is among the least studied fish species.
These satellite tags have busted the myth that whale sharks generally live near Australian shores and come to the Indian Ocean to breed. The two tagged whale sharks were found to be moving about in the Arabian Sea near Oman and Somalia, owing to the better food availability and conducive breeding conditions there.