Carcass of a middle-aged whale, suspected to be a Baleen whale, weighing about three tonnes, was washed ashore at Pudhumadam seashore near Uchipuli on Saturday.
After local fishermen alerted, a team of forest personnel led by Forest Range Officer S Ganeshalingam inspected the carcass and arranged for a post morem.
N. Veeramanigandan, Assistant Veterinary Surgeon, Rameswaram and in charge of Uchipuli, who conducted the post mortem, said the whale was 42 feet long and was highly decomposed.
The sex of the whale also could not be identified, he said. Living in deep sea, it should have died about 10 days ago, he said. After post mortem, the forest personnel buried the carcass in the seashore with the help of local fishermen. Preliminary analysis revealed that it was a middle aged Baleen whale (Blue whale), Mr Deepak Bilgi, Wildlife Warden, Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, said. This was the third whale to be washed ashore in the Gulf of Mannar region since January last year.
