30-foot juvenile whale found dead near Bethany Beach after days floating offshore A juvenile male humpback whale has washed ashore near Bethany Beach in Delaware, prompting a response from marine scientists as crews work to find out what led

BETHANY BEACH, Del. (7News) — A juvenile male humpback whale has washed ashore near Bethany Beach in Delaware, prompting a response from marine scientists as crews work to find out what led to the animal’s death.

According to the Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute (MERR), the whale was first spotted floating roughly two miles offshore near the Indian River Inlet earlier this week.

The whale eventually beached near a private community close to Bethany Beach in the early afternoon on Thursday, Jan. 8.

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MERR officials said the whale is about 30 feet long and is significantly bloated, complicating recovery efforts. The organization is coordinating with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) to secure the heavy equipment needed to move the whale fully onto the beach.

Once the animal is safely positioned, researchers plan to conduct a necropsy, a postmortem examination used to determine the cause of death in marine mammals.