Overview
- The Marine Mammal Stranding Center said the whale, found off Holgate on a boat-only sandbar, died overnight after responders assessed it as unlikely to survive.
- NJDEP’s aerial team reported the distress Friday, a Coast Guard helicopter located the animal near sunset, and a New Jersey State Police Marine Unit ferried responders to the site Saturday.
- Rescuers identified a roughly 29‑foot juvenile that was lethargic and severely underweight, with healing propeller wounds across both sides of its dorsal region.
- Humane euthanasia was planned but deferred due to high tide and fading light; sedatives were administered overnight, and a Sea Tow Atlantic City crew found the whale dead Sunday morning.
- MMSC is coordinating carcass recovery and an investigation, with a necropsy postponed by storm-driven beach erosion and tidal access limits; the animal was cataloged by Gotham Whale as NYCO476 after an Oct. 2 sighting in the New York Bight.