A scientist in Orange County is working to investigate the cause of death of a gray whale that washed ashore and was later buried in Huntington Beach, California.

The 45-foot-long adult female whale was found on Friday afternoon with no signs of injury, but scientists are raising concerns as this was one of nearly a dozen gray whales that have washed up along the West Coast this year.

Marine biologists also said the mammal looked rather healthy, so further testing was required.

“We are afraid we might be seeing an uptick in that, and we’re not seeing many calves,” marine biologist Alisa Schulman-Janiger told KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw. “This year we have our lowest southbound migration in 41 years. We have the fewest number of calves ever seen.”

Schulman-Janiger has led a critical research project studying gray whales since 1979. They found what they call an unusual mortality event (UME) with the rate of gray whales taking a severe decline between 2019 to 2023. 

However, the following year showed great recovery. But she said there are signs to cause alarm after 70 gray whales were found dead near the coast of Mexico so far this year.

“When we see what we see right now with our gray whale census, many skinny whales, even though the UME has been declared closed, that’s raising alarm bells, and the fact that so many gray whales have died along the coast of Mexico,” Schulman-Janiger said.

She added that there are many factors to consider and that, overall, gray whales are a good indicator of the ocean’s overall well-being.

“That gives us a warning sign that, there’s not just something wrong with gray whales, but something is very different about that ecosystem, and it could be a massive change, it could be a temporary, or it could be something that could really linger and affect fisheries and all kinds of things,” said Schulman-Janiger. “But we need to watch what’s going to happen in the next couple of months to kind of get an idea of what the bigger story is.”