Our partner Shoreline has interesting news about another special recovery for their team of divers! In a rather remote spot, accessible only with authorization, they dove with the intention of finding and bringing back the last bulky part of the whale.
Thus, the skull and rostrum of the fin whale that died in Muggia last year finally emerged from the murky waters of the gulf, right where the animal had been sunk.
It wasn't expected that they'd succeed without damaging the specimen, but the operation went exactly as planned. Now, only the smallest parts remain on the seabed, including some missing phalanges.
The joint Shoreline – Miramare Marine Protected Area team then handed over the bones to experts at the University of Padua. Veterinarians from the Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Nutrition at the same institution will be preparing them for museum display in the coming months.
The operation is part of the broader effort of the Interreg Seainsights project, whose aim is to study marine mammal populations in the Northern Adriatic, including through investigations of dead animals.
We can't wait to see the fin whale skeleton reconstructed and displayed in its entirety at the Natural History Museum of Trieste!
