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Photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

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Gray whale calf washes ashore in Goleta

By ERIC LINDBERG — Feb. 19, 2010

Experts won’t know what killed a young gray whale that washed ashore on Goleta Beach on Wednesday afternoon until tissue and fluid samples are tested, officials with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History said.

The young female whale, estimated to be 4 to 6 weeks old based on its umbilical scar, was seen rolling in the surf between Campus Point and Goleta Beach on Wednesday before local marine officials found it dead on the beach later that day.

“The only thing we know right now is that more than likely it’s the same gray whale that was in the Santa Barbara Harbor last week,” said Michelle Berman, the museum’s associate curator of vertebrate zoology. “To know what was wrong with it, we need to wait for the samples to come back from the lab.

“It was trying to feed and it had a lot of sand in its stomach and intestines, which could have given it some trouble.”

Museum staff took measurements and samples of the dead whale calf during a necropsy yesterday morning, and county workers were expected to bury the carcass.

Berman said the museum, a member of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, is responsible for responding to stranding incidents and conducting necropsies from San Luis Obispo to Ventura counties.

“This is the time of the year you expect to see gray whales,” she said, noting that the museum typically handles several gray whale strandings each year, often young calves.

Museum officials used photographs of the young whale spotted off Stearns Wharf last week and apparently matched the pattern on its tail fluke to the calf that washed ashore on Wednesday.

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Aren't we special? : 2/19/2010

What is so wrong with trying to help the baby whale? Letting such a awesome creature starve seems pathetic. Could we have fed it some transients?

team ciseau crew member

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Tan, Buff Men in G-strings : 2/22/2010

Something else has "washed ashore" lately here in SB. Has anybody else noticed the large group of very tan, buff young men sunbathing in g-strings on West Beach whenever it is sunny? Major butt floss out there on sunny days...is this legal?

Das Blum

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