In early January 2018, we lost another humpback whale that we know! The whale is documented as #NYC0056 in the NYC Humpback Whale Catalog maintained by Gotham Whale. #56 washed up on the Virginia shore on 1-7-18 and the necropsy was performed by Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Program, overseen by NOAA Fisheries. They estimated the whale to be a juvenile around 5 years old and 30ft in length. RIP #NYC0056!

Here is the fluke that Gotham Whale used to ID #NYC0056.

I did extensive searches via the internet and could not find one news article on it! I did however find a few photos of the necropsy that was in a private blog here. Below is a photo from that blog “Photo credit Helen Belencan” There are a few other photos so please check out their blog Helen Belencan & Gary Smith, aka HBandMe 

Look at the markings in the above photo and below photo, they are unfortunately a match. 

Here are photos from an encounter with #NYC0056 as seen from the deck of the American Princess with Gotham Whale off Rockaway NY.