Found a dead whale in the river
The Canadian Press – May 28, 2022 / 11:00 | History: 370255
Photo: The Canadian Press
A whale is seen in the waters of the Sant Llorenç river, near Montreal.
A dead whale found in the St. Lawrence River northeast of Montreal is probably the second of two minke whales detected in the area earlier this month.
A Quebec marine mammal research group says the whale recovered Friday from the waters near Contrecoeur, Que., About 50 miles downstream from Montreal.
A post on the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network website states that the male whale, about 3.8 meters long and believed to be between one and two years old, was transported to St-Hyacinthe for an autopsy.
The group says the animal’s condition suggests that it had died between a few days and a week earlier and that its skin was covered in a fungus similar to that found in a humpback whale that died after a stay. in Montreal in 2020, indicative of a long duration. stay in fresh water.
Minke whales are common in Quebec, but generally do not venture west of the St. Lawrence Saltwater Estuary around Tadoussac, Que.
A final necropsy report is not expected in a few months, but the group says no obvious cause of death or signs of trauma have been observed, despite the absence of food in the stomach. it suggests that he had not been fed recently.
He says there are no traces of the other minke whale, which was first seen around May 8 in the Montreal area before the two disappeared in mid-May.