Shock as 62ft whale found washed up on Kerry beach

The fin whale was found at Baile Uí Chuill Strand, Ballinskelligs.

The whale is thought to have died about three weeks ago before washing up on shore this weekend. Pictures: Valerie O'Sullivan

Beachgoers were shocked on Sunday morning to discover a large whale had washed up on the shore.

The 62ft fin whale was found at Baile Uí Chuill Strand, Ballinskelligs having washed up overnight on Saturday.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) visited the whale on Sunday and believe it died a number of weeks ago.

Stranding Officer Stephanie Levesque said that while the stranding of a fin whale is rare, it is not out of the ordinary.

"We would expect around one or two fin whales per year," she explained.

The cause of death is not yet known but Ms Levesque collected some samples on Sunday.

Fin whales are the second-largest mammal on Earth, second only to the blue whale. Pictures: Valerie O'Sullivan

"I got blubber, baleen and skin. I was going to attempt to get some muscle but I heard some sounds and was like, this is going to explode in my face if I go any deeper," said Ms Levesque.

The fin whale is one of the target species in the IWDG Deep Diving and Rare Species Investigation Programme which targets rarer species for post-mortem examination.

It is hoped that the samples collected by Ms Levesque will offer valuable information on the cause of death, the whale's ecology, anatomy and life history.

To date over 60 individual fin whales have been photo identified in Irish waters, mostly along the South coast.

One whale, known as 'Scar', has been recorded for over a decade by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, as the whale has appeared from Cork to Waterford numerous times since 2005.

Fin whales are the second-largest mammal on Earth, second only to the blue whale. They typically span 69ft to 74ft in length, with a pointed head and a tall, curved dorsal fin.

They are uniquely asymmetrically coloured with a black lower left jaw in stark contrast to their white lower right jaw.

The endangered whale has a distinct ridge along their back which gives it the nickname razorback.

The fin whale population has been severely impacted across the world due to commercial whaling. There are between 50,000 and 90,000 in the waters today.

They are also threatened by climate change, habitat loss, and toxics.