Rare whale found dead on Egypt's Mediterranean beach

CAIRO, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- A 13-meter-long rare fin whale was found dead Sunday on a beach in Egypt's Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria.

The finback whale was about seven or eight years old, and weighed less than four tons, the official MENA news agency reported.

The whale, found on a beach in the Roshdy district in Alexandria, was handed over by the authorities to a branch of the National Institute for Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF) in Alexandria.

A NIOF report said on Sunday that the whale died two days ago before being washed offshore by a sea storm.

It might have lost trace of its herd in deep water and was pushed by the sea storm and rough waves to shallow water near Alexandria and could not find its way back, which eventually led to its death, the report suggested.

The institute will bury the whale in limestone to get its skeleton for scientific research and for future display at the NIOF's museum.

In May 2016, a dead sperm whale was found on a beach in Egypt's Mediterranean shore of Matrouh province.

Finback whales are a rare, endangered species that live in several waters around the world including the Atlantic Ocean. They are the second largest mammals on earth next to the blue whales, yet harmless to humans unless provoked. Enditem