A third cetacean this year has appeared on Málaga beaches, this time it was a cachalote (sperm whale) at the Axarquía end of Costa del Sol.
The body was found on a Lagos beach (Vélez-Málaga) on Monday around 10.30h. The Head of the Centro de Recuperación de Especies Marinas (CREMA), marine biologist for the Aula del Mar, José Luis Mons, went to inspect the body of the whale in person.
After analysing the state of the body, he explained that it was a young sperm whale, some five meters long. However, it was not possible to establish the cause of death owing to its advanced state of decay.
“It’s a very infrequent case of stranding; there are no more than one every five or six years on the coast of Málaga,” he said, adding that it is a species in danger of extinction and that there were very few specimens left in the Mediterranean.
A crane was needed to remove the body from the beach owing to its size so that it could be taken to an authorised dump.
Yet the whale was not the only cetacean to appear on a Málaga beach that day because a dolphin was found on the Playa de Torre de Benagalbón, in Rincón de la Victoria. Much of its body was missing owing to having been attacked and killed by sharks.
(News: Lagos, Axarquía, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)
Sharks. !! I hope you don’t mean big sharks. ? Just maybe dogfish size. ??
I have had a slight worry or two in the back of my mind. When I go out on my fishing kayak. Not that I catch any fish. But it is a comfortable size for my English botty.
So a nice takeaway for a shark. ??