A 17-metre fin whale, found dead off the coast of northern Denmark, has been brought ashore for examination. British marine biologists have joined Danish authorities in an autopsy to determine the cause of death, which remains unknown. The whale, an adult female weighing an estimated 50 tonnes, was discovered by fishermen near the port of Skagen on Tuesday.
It was towed to a nearby beach to facilitate the examination. Officials from the Natural History Museum of Denmark and the British Marine Mammal Strandings Programme are conducting the post-mortem. Initial observations indicate no obvious signs of ship strike or entanglement in fishing gear.
The investigation focuses on potential disease, starvation, or noise pollution. The fin whale is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Strandings of large whales in the North Sea are relatively rare but have increased in frequency in recent years, raising concerns about the health of marine ecosystems.
