28 Melon-headed Whales stranded and Die, Japan

50 melon-headed whales stranded on Ibaraki shore; 22 rescued

Sunday 06th March, 06:15 AM JST

MITO —

About 50 melon-headed whales were found to have beached on the shore in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, in eastern Japan Friday night and 22 were rescued and returned to the sea on Saturday by authorities and local volunteers.

About 200 people, including staff at Oarai Aquarium in the same prefecture, city government officials and local residents and surfers near the Oritsu coast tried to save the beached whales by keeping them hydrated while they tried to refloat them, but 30 of them died, according to the city government.

                                                              Melon-headed whales

It took about eight hours to return the surviving whales to the sea, the officials said, adding they have buried the carcasses of the dead whales on the nearby shore.

Melon-headed whales are commonly seen offshore around the area in the early spring and they may have been drawn into the shallow waters while following their food, said Masayuki Shimada, chief of the marine animal exhibition section of the aquarium.

Source: japantoday.com

The melon-headed whale is mostly dark grey, with a faint darker grey cape that narrows at the head. A faint light band extends from the blowhole to the apex of the melon. A distinct dark eye patch, broadening as it extends from the eye to the melon, is often present. The lips are often white, and white or light grey areas are common in the throat region and urogenital region. At sea, the melon-headed whale is difficult to distinguish from the pigmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata), but it has a more pointed head and sharply pointed pectoral fins. The largest female was 2.78 m long and the largest male 2,64 m, weighing 228 kg

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