Chuburná, Yucatán — The carcass of a pygmy sperm whale found here represents the fourth whale stranding this year, confirmed Raul Diaz Gamboa, the head of the Research Program and Conservation of Marine Mammals Yucatan (Picmmy).
First reported by a port fishermen, who spotted the animal in a channel, the whale was dead at least three days, two teeth from the lower jaw already removed by someone who spotted it first.
The female was three meters long, weighing about 400 kilos.
An autopsy will help clarify what were the causes of death of the sperm whale, said the professor.
Strandings were practically unheard of in Yucatán until this year.
Two whales stranded last May in Telchac were found to have ingested plastic bags. Others have been trapped in fishing nets. A fin whale came ashore in Progreso in February, and fishermen blamed explosions from an oil rig on its demise.
