The National Parks and Wildlife Service has today confirmed that a species of whale never before recorded in Irish waters washed up in Co. Donegal last weekend.
The body of a female narwhal was retrieved by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, working with National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) staff based in the region.
It is the first time that the species has been recorded in Ireland.
According to the NPWS, the initial discovery was made by a family walking along Sweet Nellies Beach on the Inishowen Peninsula, who reported the sighting of a small, stranded 2-3m whale or dolphin to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.
“Volunteers from the IWDG responded quickly and arrived at the scene to recover the carcass and collect skin samples. The IWDG and NPWS regional staff worked together to retrieve and transport the carcass to the Regional Laboratory in Cork for post mortem examination and tests,” a statement from the NPWS said.
Minister for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan, speaking of the unprecedented discovery, described it as “a significant event,” that requires further investigation.
“This is a significant event and it is important that we try to find out more about why this species arrived on our coastline. An examination is underway which I hope will reveal important details about its life and history, and shed some light on the reasons why it arrived on our shores,” he said.
Meanwhile, CEO of the Irish Whale and Dolphin group, Dr Simon Berrow said that the event represented “a remarkable stranding”.
“As our waters warm we have seen a northern movement of whales and dolphins in Irish waters as fish move north seeking cooler waters. To have an Arctic species stranded for the first time is somewhat unexpected. However we recorded another Arctic species, a bowhead whale, in Ireland for the first time in 2016 so maybe this reflects a breaking down or Arctic ecosystems as the ice melts.
“Clearly one stranding cannot display any trends but it does show the importance of our long term monitoring schemes and the power of citizen scientists sending these reports to the IWDG,” Dr Berrow said.
The narwhal found stranded on the Donegal coastline measured 2.42m in length and was in “quite poor condition”.
According to the NPWS, there are an estimated 170,000 living narwhals worldwide, and they are a species rarely recorded outside the Arctic.
The last stranding recorded in western Europe was in Belgium in 2016, when when a young male narwhal washed up dead.
This is the 10th stranding record of narwhal in western Europe, and only the fourth female, according to the NPWS.