The body of a 44-foot long endangered sei whale was found on the bow of a cruise ship as it approached New York last weekend.
As CBS news reports, the carcass was discovered as the ship neared the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
The relevant authorities were “immediately notified,” according to the cruise ship owners, MSC Cruises.
The whale was impaled on the MSC Meraviglia, which docked at Brooklyn before sailing to ports in New England and Canada.
The carcass was taken to Sandy Hook, New Jersey for a necropsy.
The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society said that tests showed evidence of tissue trauma in the area of the whale's right shoulder blade and a fractured right flipper.
Its gastrointestinal tract was "full of food”, while samples of its organs will undergo toxicology reviews and analyses to identify any potential tissue diseases.
Robert A DiGiovanni, Atlantic Marine Conservation Society chief scientist, said it looked like the animal was alive when it was hit by the ship.
The society has responded to over 100 whale deaths in recent years, through entanglement in nets or collisions with vessels. The majority are humpback and north Atlantic whales, and a sei whale is unusual, the society said.
Sei whales are baleen whales. The filter feeders prefer deeper offshore waters.
Read the CBS News report here