Whale Washes Up On Beach In Lavallette

LAVALLETTE, NJ — The body of a young minke whale washed up on the beach in Lavallette early Friday morning, but authorities say the whale is not the same one seen floating in Raritan Bay on Thursday.

The small whale was reported to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center about 6:30 a.m. Friday, officials with the center said. The animal, near Trenton Avenue in Lavallette, was a minke whale, about 10 to 12 feet long, the center said.

However, it is not the same whale that was seen Thursday floating in Raritan Bay, the center said.

The whale in Lavallette was removed from the beach and taken to the Lavallette public works yard and "has been secured for necropsy," center officials said. "Currently MMSC is assembling the necropsy team."

The minke whale in the Lower Bay/Raritan Bay area that had been spotted Thursday by the U.S. Coast Guard was about 16 to 18 feet long, officials said. A tracking tag had been attached to that whale by conservation officers with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to monitor its drift and it was anticipated to wash ashore in Sandy Hook, center officials said. The New York conservation officers also documented that whale with photographs.

"Once the animal is on shore, we will work with NOAA Fisheries and local officials to evaluate options for examination of the animal," the Marine Mammal Stranding Center officials said.

The two minke whales are the sixth and seventh documented in New Jersey in 2024 by the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, which has a running list of all whales, dolphins and porpoises that have washed up or been found floating off the coast. That document includes every cetacean reported to the center going back to December 2022, the beginning of a string of whale strandings that have sparked protests and efforts to halt offshore wind projects.

The minke whales were not listed in the sheet as of noon on Oct. 4, but the sheets are updated daily.

Marine Mammal Stranding Center officials said more information would be shared when it becomes available.