Entangled Whale Is Feared Dead
The endangered North Atlantic right whale that has been struggling off the U.S. coast since it became entangled in fishing line in June is missing and presumed dead, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium said Thursday.
Dubbed Churchill for the legendary British leader’s will to overcome adversity, the whale was last seen earlier this month about 400 miles off the New Jersey coast, where the water is about 15,000 feet deep, according to Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the aquarium. A telemetry buoy attached to the animal went silent Sept. 16, LaCasse said.
An overflight spotted the whale Sept. 1 and showed it was emaciated and discolored. More formally known as right whale 1102, the creature’s appearance suggested it had a systemic infection, LaCasse said.
Although most whale carcasses float, LaCasse said scientists believe this one probably sank because it lost so much weight. If the whale sank in water thousands of feet deep, the telemetry buoy would have been crushed by water pressure.
The whale had been tracked since June 8, when it was spotted about 80 miles off Cape Cod, Mass., with heavy fishing line embedded in its jaw.
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