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WDC2023-007 NMLC Release (16)

Seal Rescued in Marshfield Released Back Into The Wild

For Immediate Release, May 31, 2023 PLYMOUTH, MA - A young male grey seal that...

Norway ups whale kill numbers and removes whale welfare protections

The whaling season in Norway has begun on the back of disturbing announcements from the...
Image taken from an unmanned hexacopter at >100ft during a research collaboration between NOAA/SWFSC, SR3 and the Coastal Ocean Research Institute. Research authorized by NMFS permit #19091.

Southern Resident orca petition to list them under Oregon Endangered Species Act advanced

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted today to advance a petition seeking to protect...
Hysazu Photography

WDC and Conservation Partners Continue to Seek Oregon Endangered Species Protection for Southern Resident Orcas

On Friday, April 21st, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will determine whether the petition...

Small fish kills large whale

In a rare incident, a small flat fish is thought to have killed a whale after becoming stuck in the much larger creature’s blowhole.

According to scientists, it is the first recorded incident of a pilot whale suffocating on a fish since 1581, and within weeks it is thought to have happened once again.

The freakish incidents happened in 2014, when a pod of 30-40 long-finned pilot whales drifted into the waters off the eastern coast of the UK. One of the whales then washed up dead six weeks later and a post mortem (necropsy) on the whale revealed a fish (sole) had lodged in the whale’s blowhole, which would have prevented the much larger creature from breathing. Bizarrely, a few weeks after the post mortem, another pilot whale washed up dead with a sole stuck in its blowhole too.

It is though that the soles flexible bodies may have allowed them to roll up inside the mouths of the whales and then to find a way up into their blowholes. A whale can dislocate its larynx when trying to eat fish and so they may have pushed these fish into their blowholes when trying to swallow them.

A similar incident involving a dolphin was reported in May 2014 – read more