Blue Whales

From the earliest days of exploration, mariners in Chile's cool southern waters marveled at the abundance of whales. A Jesuit naturalist wrote of the sea "boiling" with the spouts of the leviathans. Among 19th century Nantucket boatmen, the island of Mocha was notorious as the stamping grounds of "Mocha Dick," an ill-tempered sperm whale riddled with harpoons.

Word to the whale-wise: Head south. Once a rare sight south of Santa Barbara, blue whales have in recent years come to favor Southern California waters. Whale watchers seeking a glimpse of the largest animals on Earth this summer will have the best chances off the coast of Orange and San Diego counties and northern Baja California, according to marine biologists. "Some ebb and flow is normal for animal populations in general," said Mike Bursk, a biologist with the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.

Beached beside a highway 10 miles up the coast from Ventura, the immense carcass of a blue whale drew hundreds of spectators Friday as biologists began to delve into it for a rare, clinical glimpse of the world's largest animal. Nobody yet knows what killed the whale, which is about 78 feet long and estimated to weigh around 100,000 pounds.

On a quiet beach up the coast from Ventura, there wasn't much left on Monday of the 60- to 70-ton blue whale that over the weekend lay there dead, scrutinized by researchers and photographed by hundreds of spectators. The tire tracks of two pieces of heavy equipment still gouged the wet sand and a boulder-sized chunk of what appeared to be blubber sat in the surf, pecked by gulls.

Tow boat crews wrapped a huge nylon sling around the tail of a dead blue whale drifting in the Santa Barbara Channel on Friday and started hauling their grim cargo toward a beach at Point Mugu. In a deepening scientific mystery, the blue whale is the third in two weeks found dead off the Southern California coast. An endangered species, blue whales are the largest animals on Earth.

The blue whale found dead last week in the Santa Barbara Channel was probably the third victim of a ship collision in two weeks, scientists said Saturday as they conducted a post-mortem on the 60-ton creature. As surf roiled around the massive carcass on a beach at Point Mugu, biologists cut doorway-size openings in its belly and probed its organs for tissue specimens.

Prompted by the recent deaths of three blue whales, an environmental group has asked for federal imposition of a speed limit on freighters and tankers in the Santa Barbara Channel. A limit of 10 knots would make fewer collisions lethal and give whales more time to elude danger, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. It has been confirmed that two of the dead whales collided with ships, and it is suspected that the third also did.

With test results in hand, scientists have ruled out a neurotoxin that had been their best bet to explain why three blue whales were killed recently in ship collisions off Southern California. Their working theory had been that whales disoriented by the toxin were unable to avoid freighters and tankers inadvertently bearing down on them.

What to do with a dead whale is no small problem. Tow it to sea and it just might come back -- as did the remains of a 70-ton blue whale that washed up on Malibu beaches twice last week. Stick it in the ground and its oils might leach back into the ocean, drawing sharks eager for dinner. That happened with a whale buried at a popular San Diego County surfing spot in 2003.

One of Earth's largest creatures penetrates the surface amid a massive cloud of krill, its gaping mouth opening as if hinged, devouring a huge swallow of chowder. The tiny red crustaceans don't stand a chance. They're gone in a whooshing gulp that leaves passengers aboard the Condor Express spellbound. "This is unbelievable," said Ian Lloyd, 54, a visitor from London who was aboard with his wife and daughter. "I read when I was a little boy that blue whales were virtually extinct and now, 40 years later, here they are."