Dead whale found floating in Boston Harbor

Photo provided by New England Aquarium shows boaters watching as dead 55-foot finback whale floats in Boston Harbor Sunday / AP Photo/The New England Aquarium

BOSTON Coast Guard officials say a 55-foot finback whale has been found dead, floating in Boston Harbor.

Authorities don't know the cause of death.

Petty Officer Robert Simpson says the whale was spotted early Sunday. He says the Coast Guard took a team from the New England Aquarium to examine the whale and take samples.

New England Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse told WCVB-TV that biologists spotted bruising and pressure lines on the finback, which can be caused by something wrapping around the whale.

Simpson says the whale has been beached at Long Island, in the middle of Boston Harbor, and a necropsy is planned.

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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3 Comments Add a Comment

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magnumdr says:

The whale just died. Don't waste the money trying to figure out why it died. Maybe it was nature that did it!

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MandyMazurk says:

Maybe on the cost that isn't weird but it sounds weird to me. I'm from Marsh Country in Central-Wisconsin and we do get floaters on the marsh but a whole whale sounds like more than a "pet" alligator some moron "set free" into a water source it couldn't survive in.

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proscriptus replies:

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Are you suggesting this was someone's pet whale?

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[magnumdr]

The whale just died. Don't waste the money trying to figure out why it died. Maybe it was nature that did it!

[MandyMazurk]

Maybe on the cost that isn't weird but it sounds weird to me. I'm from Marsh Country in Central-Wisconsin and we do get floaters on the marsh but a whole whale sounds like more than a "pet" alligator some moron "set free" into a water source it couldn't survive in.

[proscriptus]

Are you suggesting this was someone's pet whale?