Two locals patrolling Drakes Beach early last Monday morning—volunteers for the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Association’s beach watch surveying program—found a nine-foot carcass of a sea creature ravaged by sharks. Biologists from the park and the California Academy of Sciences who responded to the scene hypothesize that the animal was a newborn Hubbs’ beaked whale that likely died after losing its mother. Although they could not conduct a necropsy due to the whale’s level of decomposition, biologists sent genetic samples to the National Marine Fisheries Service, which has yet to return its findings. The species is rare: though typical of the North Pacific, there have been relatively few confirmed sightings of the Hubbs’ whale, which made the deepest dive ever recorded at 9,874 feet off the Channel Islands in 2013. Like other beaked whales and deep divers, Hubbs’ whales are thought to feed primarily on squid. Males can reach up to 17 feet in length and have three distinctive features: a raised white forehead; a stocky, white elongated beak; and a strongly arched lower jaw with two large tusks in the center that are visible even when their mouths are closed. They often have long, white scars on their bodies, suggesting they fight one another. Females have a longer beak and a more mildly arched jaw, and their teeth fit within their mouths. The last time a Hubbs’ whale was seen in the area was in August 1989, when two were stranded on Ocean Beach. Dubbed Nicholas and Alexander, the whales survived just two weeks, despite interest from the media and significant efforts to keep them alive. Mary Jane Schramm, a spokeswoman for the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, remembers giving live reports on those whales for KGO radio. She added, “We likely wouldn’t have even known about this whale, if not for our beach watch program.” Gordon Bennett and Dominique Richard, both Inverness residents, found the baby Hubbs’ whale during their volunteer work with the association’s 25-year-old beach watch program. As part of that program, volunteers conduct bimonthly surveys of 54 beaches from Point Arena in Mendocino County south to Año Nuevo State Park in San Mateo County. The surveys’ goals are to maintain a longterm dataset of the bird and mammal resources for each beach and to assist the sanctuary in early detection of natural or human-caused disasters. Beach Watch is currently recruiting new volunteers. Anyone interested may contact Dru Devlin at [email protected]. or (415) 530.5373.