North Avoca: Rare whale washes up on beach
An incredibly rare beaked whale has met a horrible end after being attacked by sharks off the Central Coast. Onlookers managed to capture the harrowing scene.
Central Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Central Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- North Entrance: Digger hero Ben Weber helps unblock The Entrance Channel
- Gosford dad jailed for revenge porn Snapchat post
An incredibly rare whale, which generally lives in the far depths of the ocean, washed up at North Avoca Beach yesterday.
In the early afternoon, lifeguards and beachgoers were shocked to find the beaked whale floundering and bleeding close to shore near the Avoca Beach shark tower before it managed to get back into deeper waters.
An incredible video of the 5m whale was posted on social media by Charmaine Hill who said marine services had been notified.
However it wasn’t a happy ending for the injured whale which swam right into the area known as “shark alley” and its carcass washed up around 6pm half eaten.
Volunteers from ORRCA retrieved the body with the help of Central Coast Dolphin Project’s Ronny Ling and Kincumber Vets. The head has since been sent off for an x-ray to determine the sex and species of the animal.
“It’s more than likely a female and I believe it is a Ginkgo-toothed whale which is the rarest of the beaked whales,” Mr Ling said.
“We will hopefully get an answer today on the exact species. Being able to retrieve the body adds so much scientific value.
“When it washed up, there were some big clean bites. There are lots of sharks around there at the moment in the murky waters.”
Mr Ling said beaked whales range in size from 3m to 13m and have a distinguishing beak which made them look like giant dolphins. He said they were a “rare and wonderful” deep sea whale which uses its acoustic skills to the enth degree.
Australian Reptile Park director Tim Faulkner, who was at the beach last night, said beaked whales live and feed in the deepest parts of the ocean.
“It’s incredibly rare, we have never heard of a beaked whale wash up on the Central Coast,” he said.
“These types of whales are rarely seen and generally live in small pods.”
Mr Faulkner said the whale was most likely hit by bronze whaler sharks, however said the whale had unique holes in its flesh similar to those caused by cookiecutter sharks which drill round plugs into whales to feed on the blubber.
“Also with the rough seas, the whale was in great strife,” he said.