A humpback whale found stranded on a sandbar off the southern tip of Long Beach Island died Sunday, officials said.
The whale was first spotted by a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection aerial team around 3 p.m. on Friday off the west side of Beach Haven in shallow water, according to a statement from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.
The Coast Guard was called in and a helicopter crew was able to relocate the whale early Saturday morning as a team from the stranding center was transported via boat to the new location to assess the mammal’s condition, the center said.
The young, 29-foot whale was found to be lethargic and very thin and it had wounds consistent with a previous propeller strike on its left and right dorsal side, officials said.
The team determined that the