A dead finback whale more than 50 feet in length was found
floating in Boston Harbor early Sunday morning — a rarity for
the area, officials said. Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New
England Aquarium, which sent officials to examine the whale,
said how the massive mammal died remained a mystery. “We don’t
know,” he said. “We’ve only been able to look at a small portion
of the body so far.” LaCasse said the animal probably died of
natural causes, disease, or a unique medical problem, such as
being struck by a vessel or becoming entangled in netting. He
said a large amount of blood in the water surrounding the whale
and marks on its body may indicate trauma. But he added that it
is unclear whether the possible trauma took place before or
after the animal died. Authorities did not know how old the
whale was, but were conducting tests on samples taken from the
animal, and planned to perform a necropsy. Although the finback
whale is common in this area, it is endangered in the United
States, said LaCasse. About