Update 17 November 2020
Willy Aubin reports: “Stranding fin whale series continued Saturday 14 November with another case of stranding in St Hilaire de Riez, a 15.8m, male (without the tail, which was taken on the beach, we do not don’t know by whom ??). Again an extremely emaciated animal”. Willy also asks “with this common weight loss, are there environmental reasons for famine in European waters ?”
Update 2 November 2020
Update 12 October 2020
More baleen whales are being reported stranded on the coasts of France and Belguim. A fin whale stranded on 4 October in Somme Bay, France while a Sei whale stranded alive on a shore on 5 October in Veys Bay, France, 200 km to the west. Reports on 11 October suggested that there are others: one in Normandy (stranded) and another one (alive) near Belgian-French coastline.
The Normandy whale was identified as a 13-15m fin whale stranded alive in Cherbourg, visibly emaciated on Friday.
Bryde’s whale strands in France – most unexpected
Update 6 October 2020
Willy Dabin of the University of La Rochelle told the IWDG “for this Bryde whale, the external and internal examinations reveals an agonic death on a vast and flat foreshore, of an animal of good physical condition“.
A full sampling will occur this week at ULG for analysis including histology, genetic samples and testing for Brucella, morbillivirus etc. Another whale stranded on 4th October at Olonne sur mer, a female fin whale, 10m in length, but very emaciated.
Images from Willy Dabin of the University of La Rochelle
5 October 2020
A Bryde’s whale Balaenoptera edeni has stranded in Normandy, France. Bryde’s whale, also known as tropical whale, typically occurs between the 40th parallels of latitude, in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, preferring highly productive, tropical, subtropical and warm, temperate waters of between 16–22°C.
Thierry Jauniaux of the Department of Pathology and Morphology at the University of Liége in Belguim says “this was most unexpected. We assumed it was a fin whale but the stranded animal had three longitudinal ridges from the blowhole while other Balaenoptera have only one“.
There have been recent strandings in the North sea of Arctic species such as Bowhead whales in Britain and Ireland (see Whooley, P. and Berrow, S. (2019) Bowhead whale, a cetacean species new to Irish waters. Irish Naturalists Journal. 36(2), 169-171; paper available in the members section of this website), Narwhal in Belgium, and sightings of Beluga off the Britain and Ireland. Now is this a northward extension of a tropical species !!
This is a species never recorded in Ireland and wouldn’t be expected to occur but now in these changing times, anything could happen.
Images from Reserve Naturelle du domaine Beauguillot