MACHIAS — Scientists will work to determine the cause of death of an endangered right whale after its carcass washed ashore in eastern Maine.

Sean Todd, director of the Allied Whale research group at the College of the Atlantic, said the whale was first spotted floating in the Gulf of Maine about a month ago and was discovered on shore last week.

Todd told the Bangor Daily News that researchers will clean the carcass, piece together the skeleton and donate it to a museum. He said the whale had two large gash marks on its underside, but that those marks may have been made after it was already dead and floating in the ocean.

The number of right whales in the world is estimated at 350 to 400.


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