Its has been reported that a 42-foot-long blue whale died after being washed ashore on the Revdanda coast in Alibaug, around 80 km from here, on Wednesday night. It has been stated that Forest officials had reportedly contacted marine biologists after spotting it on Wednesday when it was still alive and struggling to survive.
According to the reports , “This big whale was first spotted on the shore on Wednesday afternoon. It was initially showing signs of life, so the villagers tried to push it back in the sea. The day-long attempts by the local people to put the mammal, weighing about 20 tonnes, back into the sea went in vain.The carcass was buried on the beach on Thursday.It has been an surprise to marine biologists as blue whales are sighted on the Maharashtra coast after almost a century.
Chief conservator of forests (mangroves cell), N Vasudevan, said: “It is unfortunate that this blue whale was stranded in the shallow sea and eventually died. The blue whales are the biggest species of earth, and can grow up to 100 feet.” The Beached blue whale is world’s largest animal , it can be rarely seen so close to the coastline.“Such incidents do happen, but in those cases, the whales go back to the sea once high tide sets in.
Blue whale which washed up near Mumbai Coast is buried:
Here, it was not lucky because of the low tide,” Mr. Vasudevan said. These beached Blue whales are marine mammals that can reach an average length of 75-88 feet, with the largest known specimen being of 108 feet. These animals tend to be open-ocean species, but they do come close to the shore to feed.
According to the Konkan Cetacean Research Team, while on a survey of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins near the Sindhudurg coastline, spotted a blue whale on March 28. The previous sighting of the mammal off the Maharashtra coast was in 1914, records say.Chief conservator of forests , N Vasudevan added that the dead whale was later buried on the beach at Revdanda on Thursday. This is reportedly the biggest sized whale to have washed ashore in and around Mumbai coast in recent times. Around two months ago another dead whale was found at the Uran coast of Raigad district; while several dead dolphins were also found around the Mumbai cost in the recent past.
According to the environment activist ,D Stalin”Marine creatures like dolphins and whales are being regularly spotted on the shores like this due to various reasons, including sea pollution due to our industrial effluents. The latest blue whale to be found at the Raigad district shows that our waters are rich in biodiversity, and that we must take care of our environment.