A WHALE which was spotted swimming around the mouth of the River Liffey near Dublin Bay this week has sadly been found dead.
The huge mammal, initially believed to have been a minke whale, was in fact discovered to be a fin whale, the second largest animal on the planet.
Passengers and crew members aboard the Irish Ferries vessel Ulysses spotted the dead body of the whale floating in the water as the boat left Dublin Port on Friday.
Its remains were towed out to sea, as the massive corpse posed a safety risk to ships coming in and out of the port, and it's expected to have sunk a few hours later.
The whale was first spotted on Tuesday, and footage emerged of the creature cruising up and down the opening to Dublin Bay.
Experts considered its presence in such an unusual area as a bad sign and presumed the whale was likely sick and would probably die.
Sadly those fears were confirmed on Friday.
There she/he blows.... spotted in the Liffey. More on @rtenews pic.twitter.com/qepBEoMwgC
— Conor Hunt (@conorfhunt) October 2, 2019
Chief executive of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group Simon Berrow said he wasn't surprised the whale had died, adding that seeing them close to shore is usually a sign that they're under stress or are disorientated, which often leads to their death.
"Fin whales are usually on the south coast of Ireland. They occur occasionally in the Irish Sea, but it is unnatural behaviour to see them this close to the shore,” he said. “They don’t hug the coast like this and they certainly don’t go into harbours and bays," he said.
Because they're filter feeders and consume fish at such an enormous rate, fin whales aren't usually found near the coast.
Though it was only a juvenile, the whale was believed to have been around 20ft long.
Fin whales are capable of growing to up to 35ft, although there are claims that the largest specimen ever discovered was a gigantic 80ft fin whale caught off the coast of Shetland in 1905.
