THE CARCASS of a 16-metre fin whale caused a rescue operation off the West Penwith coast on Friday afternoon.

At around 3.45pm the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), at Falmouth, received a call from a member of the public who had seen an oil slick and an object from Eagles Nest, near Zennor.

Members of the St Ives Coastguard Rescue Team, led by Bob Charleston, were alerted to the area to establish what it was.

Mr Charleston said that on arrival it was obvious to the team that there was a large slick moving to the east on the surface, around three-and-a-half miles off the Eagles Nest.

Carcass

He said: "Despite having an excellent view from our position it was not possible to distinguish what the actual object was. As there was a possibility that it could have been the up-turned hull of a vessel a request was made for the launch of the St Ives all-weather lifeboat.

"With the coastguard team directing the lifeboat from the clifftop the crews were able to locate the object, which they found was the intact carcass of a whale approximately 16 metres in length."

On instruction from Falmouth Coastguard, the whale was left out to sea and the lifeboat returned to St Ives.

The rotting female whale washed up on shore 23 miles away at Porthtowan beach on Sunday evening. It came to rest in a small cove where it was examined by Gary Hawkins, a member of the Marine Strandings Network.

He said: "It's hard to describe just how massive this whale was. Even looking down on it from the clifftop above it looked huge, it was the length of an HGV lorry. I measured it at nearly 17m and the length of one of its flippers alone was 2.5m.

"But then, it is the second largest animal on earth." The largest is the blue whale.

Gary was able to take samples from the animal for the Institute of Zoology in London.

The cause of death was not obvious but fin whales are known to be the species most affected by ship strike.

Although they can travel at speeds of up to 40km per hour, they can still be caught unaware when sleeping or resting on the surface.

Fin whales can grow to about 25m and a female can weigh up to 120,000kg. They can live for up to 90 years.

Their low frequency calls can be heard by other whales 850km away.

Since the 1990s they have been seen during most winters off Cornwall. Their vertical blows are easily visible from two miles away and they may stay close to the surface for about 90 seconds each time they surface.

People are urged to report any dead marine creatures to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Marine Strandings Network on 0845 201 2626.