More Study Planned on Whale Carcass

CHARLESTON POST COURIER

Folly Beach resident Carol Linville looks at a 10-foot pygmy sperm whale that washed ashore on the beach Friday morning.

A necropsy of a pygmy sperm whale that washed ashore Friday at Folly Beach was inconclusive as to the cause of the animal's death, but further lab study is planned, a scientist said Monday.

The 10-foot-long, 800-pound whale was "heavily parasitized" and malnourished, said Wayne McFee, a marine biologist with the National Ocean Service. It died 24 to 48 hours before a surfer found it at East Arctic Avenue and 6th Street East. Its body temperature was "still fairly warm," he said.