PORT TOWNSEND — The public on Friday had a chance to see the bones of a gray whale that will some day be a new exhibit at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
The bones of the juvenile female gray whale were aired in the sunshine to kill bacteria and bleach them, said Linda Dean, a board member of the marine science center at 532 Battery Way at Fort Worden.
The session of “daylighting” is part of the process of preserving the bones.
The 30-foot-long juvenile female gray whale died in Elliott Bay in Seattle in May 2016.
Cascadia Research and the state Department of Natural Resources towed the whale to Indian Island for a necropsy.
The whale, which was about 2 years old and weighed between 13,000 and 15,000 pounds, had been sighted alive in late April in the Puget Sound and was observed having difficulty swimming and diving.
Biologists and veterinarians found that the whale suffered from a collapsed lung, which filled its chest cavity with air and made the animal too buoyant to dive and feed.
The lung collapse was probably through an impact with something — a boat, another whale or some other object, said Betsy Carlson, citizen science coordinator for the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, last September.
Asked whether the marine science center wanted the bones for display, Executive Director Janine Boire said yes, enthusiastic about adding the display to the center’s collection, which now includes an orca skeleton, Carlson said then.
Science center volunteers and staff members anchored the gray whale’s body just offshore at Naval Magazine Indian Island.
“The Navy was great about working with us,” Carlson said.
Marine mammal veterinarian Dr. Peter Schroeder of the National Marine Mammal Foundation provided guidance to the team of volunteers and staff.
The whale was wrapped in a fishing net and anchored with boat anchors just off Crane Point on Indian Island.
Once it had decomposed, volunteers took it to a Marrowstone Island greenhouse to dry. The bones were labeled over the winter.
The marine science center is storing the skeleton until it can be articulated for use in an exhibit.
Right now, the center currently doesn’t have the space to display them, but officials hope to find or build a space for the whale bones in the future.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland contributed to this report.
