Authorities are asking beachgoers to stay away from a 35- to 40-foot fin whale that washed ashore in Torrance on Saturday night and later died.
“Due to its size and location, the whale is expected to remain on the beach while lifeguards create a plan to remove it,” the Los Angeles County lifeguard group said in a post on X. “If you are in the area, please give the animal and lifeguards plenty of room to work.”
Lifeguards discovered the whale around 6 p.m. Saturday, located between Redondo Beach and Malaga Cove. The Marine Mammal Center and the National Fisheries Service later determined the whale was dead.
The cause has not yet been determined, but fin whales are particularly susceptible to ship strikes, according to marine mammal experts. Warming ocean waters are also disrupting food supplies, while entanglement in commercial fishing lines is another danger whales face.
Fin whales are the second largest animals on Earth after the blue whale. Like the latter, fin whales are whales with two blowholes and, instead of teeth, hundreds of rows of baleen plates made of keratin. The plates, lined up in a row, are used to filter food from the water, mainly small fish and plankton.
