A morning walk delivered more than sunshine and surf for a Eurobodalla couple when they found a dead whale.
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Jacinta Ryan and Mark Dudley, of Dalmeny, found the carcass of a whale washed up on Dalmeny Beach on Friday, November 10.
The couple found the remains on rocks at the north end of Dalmeny Beach. “It is a walk we like doing when we can,” Ms Ryan said.
The couple spotted something large on the rocks.
“I know the rocks pretty well, and I thought originally it was a dead seal, but when we got closer, we realised it was a lot bigger,” Ms Ryan said. “It was definitely dead. It’s intestines were out on the beach, so that was a good indicator.”
Ms Ryan said the carcass had “big bite chunks out of it”. “I thought ‘something has got to this’.”
Ms Ryan said she had previously found a dead 1.5 metre shark on the beach.
NPWS has been approached for comment. Whales can also fall victim to boat propellers.
Pete Garbett from the Cetal Fauna group has seen the photos and is of the view that it is a pilot whale.
“But can't be certain from the images available if it's a longfin or shortfin species,” he said. “There is some overlap in the distribution of both down that way. Essentially, we have shortfin pilots up here although there is a longfin specimen from local waters in the Qld Museum collection.”
