Ocean City has been adroit at attracting tourists to the resort town in a number of quirky ways. This week it didn’t need to lift a finger to draw a large gathering, in a way it would probably prefer forgoing in the future.
An Ocean City Public Works Department crew at the scene on the 7th Street Beach.
OCEAN CITY, N.J. — Ocean City has been adroit at attracting tourists to the resort town in a number of quirky ways. This week it didn’t need to lift a finger to draw a large gathering, in a way it would probably prefer forgoing in the future.
According to reports, a dead and badly decomposed whale carcass washed up in the shallows of Ocean City’s 7th Street beach a little after noon on Monday, Jan. 23.
Published reports had the whale’s size between 40 and 45 feet long and, after closer inspection Tuesday when the tide receded and it was fully beached, it is believed to be a finback (or fin) whale, which typically migrate off the East Coast at this time of year.
Director Bob Schoelkopf and his technicians at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center of Brigantine performed a necropsy to determine how and why the whale died.
Based on damage to the whale’s vertebrae upon initial inspection, it was determined that the whale was likely struck by a passing ship.
A similar whale carcass was spotted about a week ago in the waters off the shores of Long Island, New York, near the Ambrose Light tower, and could have been carried down to Ocean City by the currents.
Schoelkopf says that the dead whale is likely an adolescent fin whale, which, according to information on the American Cetacean Society Web site, can exceed 80 feet in length in adulthood.
Fin whales are the second longest whale in the world only behind the blue whale, which can reach nearly 100 feet in length. Fins are the fastest swimmers among large whales and are considered endangered, having been hunted from an estimated population of 750,000 at one time to less than 15,000 currently.
The Ocean City Public Works Department was given the task of cutting the whale apart and burying its remains.
And while that task may seem unenviable, it is certainly a better option than the one a crew from Portland, Oregon, opted for back in 1970, which was to blow apart the remains with dynamite.
See the video below.
Last Saturday Martha Wash of the Weather Girls sang her hit “It’s Raining Men” during the Miss’d America Pageant in Atlantic City.
Back then the song’s name might have been tweaked to “It’s Raining Whale.”
Ocean City presents the 26th annual Ocean City Airport Festival on Saturday, Sept. 17, and then follows on Sunday, Sept. 18, with an Aerobatic Air Show off the Boardwalk.
OCEAN CITY — Any summer weekend in Ocean City can count as a big weekend. But when it comes to the city’s annual Night in Venice celebration this weekend, it’s just massive, colossal, gigantic.
Atlantic City isn’t the only spot for concert action this weekend as the Ocean City Pops start their summer season with a performance Sunday at the Music Pier with guest star Lucie Arnaz.
A list of events happening this weekend in Ocean City
Call it a grass-roots effort, but one of the oldest debates in Ocean City is on again and picking up momentum. Should the city finally allow the city’s restaurants to have BYOB service, where patrons can bring in their own wine and beer to complement their dinners?
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1. Anonymous said... on Jan 26, 2012 at 11:15AM
“where did they bury it? How come they didn't dump in back into the deep ocean???”
2. Jer-z-boy said... on Jan 26, 2012 at 01:08PM
“Apparently it was in such a state of decomposition it could not be moved in once piece. Pulling it back out to sea would risk the same thing happening someplace else. They buried it in pieces at some vacant, open space near the Longport-OC bridge.”
3. MARGE M said... on Jan 29, 2012 at 01:51AM
“Ifeel really bad that such a rare and beautiful creature met such a fate,sorry I was away and missed seeing the whale, where on the beach did they bury the whale?”