Dead whale found on Folly Beach

FOLLY BEACH — A dead 10-foot-long, 800-pound pygmy sperm whale was discovered washed ashore Friday morning.

A surfer found the adult male whale at East Arctic Avenue and 6th Street East. Using a four-wheel vehicle, scientists hauled the whale a half-mile on the beach to 2nd Street East. There, it was winched aboard a trailer and taken to a local federal marine lab for necropsy.

Wayne McFee, a marine biologist, said it is unusual to have such a species strand locally. Pygmy sperm whales are deepwater animals typically found far offshore near the Gulf Stream. "We don't know the cause of the death until we get inside of it," McFee said.

The whale was missing chunks of skin and had a broken tooth. McFee said the injuries could have been caused by sharks or by the whale rolling around in the surf. He said the stranding is of particular interest to marine scientists from around the Southeast, who just concluded a conference in Charleston on what's happening with pygmy sperm whale strandings. A necropsy of the pygmy sperm whale could provide clues about whether ocean conditions are deteriorating, he said.

Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier