Wow... Whale carcas found 1000+ miles up a river

[Whoozyerdaddy]

They found this whale about 40 miles from my house. :Q

Link

DENALI PARK--A dead beluga whale, found on the shore of the Tanana River 15 miles upstream from Nenana, offers the first tangible evidence that these marine mammals venture upriver far into the Interior.

Biologists recovered the carcass of the 8-foot-long beluga whale, believed to be a 2-year-old, and delivered it to the laboratory at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. Scientists will examine the whale and try to learn where it came from and how it died.

Four canoeists from Denali found the beached whale last weekend when they pulled to shore while paddling from Fairbanks to Nenana. They chose the spot purely by happenstance, intending to change into dry clothes. They noticed something unusual as soon as they stepped out of their boats and looked at the beach.

But this particular creature was more than 1,000 river miles from any ocean or coastline and would have had to swim from the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles up the Yukon River, then up the Tanana River.

According to the state Fish and Game Web site, it is not unusual for belugas to swim up large rivers like the Yukon River. Lack of salinity doesn't seem to affect them.

In 1982, a group of whales was seen at the village of Tanana, 750 miles from the mouth of the Yukon River. A single adult was reported seen above Rampart, 80 miles farther upstream. In 1993, four belugas were spotted near Fort Yukon.

But all those sightings pale in comparison to recovering an actual specimen, according to Olson.

"We know they swim up rivers, presumably following fish on their return to spawning grounds," said Olson. "This discovery has pretty serious implications for their behavior and ecology. One question everyone will have is, when did this particular individual come upriver? If it's over a couple of weeks ago, and even right now, there's just a couple inches of visibility. They echolocate so they have to rely on that to navigate upriver.

They're not sure if he swam up the river after break-up this spring or if he died last fall when the river froze up. It makes more sense to think that he was following the salmon run last fall but you never know.


Edit: Another Link
Pic of dead bloated whale

 

[SearchMaster]

Heh - can you imagine the look on the trout fisherman's face who could have snagged that one?

 

[Ika]

aren't belugas endangered?

 

[junkerman123]

Free caviar for all?

 

[IceBergSLiM]

bayyyyyybeeeeeeee balugaaaaa bayyyyyybeeeeeeee balugaaaaa

 

[ElFenix]

mmm caviar

 

[j00fek]

id like some caviar plz

 

[Kristi2k]

That's very interesting, thanks for the article.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Another Link
Pic of dead bloated whale

"It was black and nasty and runny and full of maggots," she said. "Some of the meat was in relatively good condition. You wouldn't want to eat it."

*hurk*