A dead whale that cropped up in the San Francisco Bay on Saturday is tied to a pier on Angel Island as scientists wait to perform a necropsy.
The female blue or fin whale, which is roughly 40 to 60 feet in length, was originally spotted off of the Howard Terminal in Oakland, according to Jiancarlo Rulli from the Marine Mammal Center. Scientists proceeded to collect a skin, blubber and muscle sample before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday towed the carcass to Angel Island.
A cause of death is not known at this time, according to Rulli.
Scientists with the Marine Mammal Center will not be able to complete a thorough necropsy until the current band of winter weather subsides, Rulli said.
