The carcass of a sub-adult whale washed ashore at Aatrankarai seashore on Sunday.
Forest Range Officer S. Sathish said that the carcass was nine metre long with a circumference of six metres. It is suspected to be a male dwarf sperm whale aged between seven to nine years. ‘Since the carcass is extremely decayed, it is difficult to ascertain the species,’ he said.
The local fishermen informed the forest department officials about the carcass on Saturday evening. Usually, an adult dwarf sperm whale would weigh up to 16 tonne. ‘But, the decayed carcass weighed around three tonne and it looks like a sub-adult whale,’ he added. The whale could have died around a week back due to rough climatic conditions in the sea, he said.
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Valantharavai veterinary doctor M. Nijamudeen performed the autopsy in the presence of S. Ganesalingam, Assistant Conservator of Forest, J. Chandru Raju, forester. and R. Gunasekaran, forest guard. Later, a pit was dug on the seashore and the decayed carcass was buried.