Dead fin whale washes up in Vlissingen, The Netherlands

RNW, 15 January 2012

(Photo: NOS)

A dead fin whale was found on Sunday morning in the harbour of Vlissingen in the south-western province of Zeeland.

The young mammal is nearly nine metres long and weighs some 5,000 kilos. It is extremely rare for a fin whale to wash up on Dutch shores. Just 30 cases have been recorded since the fourteenth century.

The last time was eleven years ago, when a fin whale washed up about 100 metres from the present site. Biologists from the Naturalis natural history museum in Leiden will dissect the animal on the quay tomorrow.