KZTV

Posted: Feb 8, 2010 7:43 PM
Updated: Feb 8, 2010 9:20 PM

PORT ARANSAS - Dead fish and other debris wash up on the beach everyday, but dead whales.. not so much.  That is, until Monday morning, when a whale carcass was found near marker 30 on Mustang Island Beach near Port Aransas.

It was found around 7:30 in the morning and attracted a large crowd of curious onlookers.  "I''ve never seen a beached whale before, so it's kind of interesting,"said Jackie Shlichting who was visiting from San Marcos.

Some people were saddened to see the dead animal. "It's sad, it's cool to watch, but it's sad that he died, poor thing," said Christy Ortiz.

The species of the nearly 50-foot long whale is still unknown, although experts say it's a female great whale, possibly a young Baleen whale.

And based on it's level of decomposition, they believe she's been dead at least a week and may have floated here from north of Houston.

"That's what we heard, that there was a great whale that was floating near Sabine Pass, was around a week ago, it was floating out there and they couldn't get out to it, so apparently the currents are moving south," said Lea Walker of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

Because the carcass is so heavy and in such poor shape, it will be buried in a hole dug out on the beach.  Experts did perform a necropsy but say it's unlikely they'll figure out what caused the whale's death.