A long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) remained stranded for several hours on New Year's Day on a beach near Puerto Marina in Benalmádena.

The animal was wallowing in the surf; half in, half out of the water, when a beachwalker saw it and reported it to the Policía Local, who in turn passed the information onto the Servicio Marítimo de la Guardia Civil, which has a unit based in the said marina.

According to Seprona (who were also alerted) the specimen was about eight metres long, which corresponds to the size of an adult male, which can weigh up to 3,500kg.

Finally, the pilot whale was able to come off the beach and regain open water through its own efforts around 23.00h, after having been stranded for about three hours.

Here’s a case of a mass stranding of this kind of whale in Iceland in June last year.

(News: Benalmadena, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)

Keywords, Long-Fin Whale, Stranded, Beach, Seprona, Returned to Sea

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