Overview
- Federal crews recovered the carcass under the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday and towed it to Angel Island, where a necropsy was conducted Wednesday.
- The whale was an adult female about 42 feet long in fair body condition, and examinations indicated she had been feeding recently.
- Marine Mammal Center officials reported injuries consistent with a vessel strike, and teams collected tissue samples for laboratory analysis.
- Researchers have logged increased gray whale presence in San Francisco Bay since January, with at least six individuals observed as of Monday.
- The West Coast gray whale population is estimated at about 12,900, the lowest since the 1970s, and the Bay Area recorded 26 whale deaths in 2025, including nine suspected ship strikes.