COROLLA, N.C. — The female humpback whale carcass that washed up in Corolla Thursday is now on the beach and undergoing an external exam and necropsy.
Officials with the North Carolina Aquariums are on scene Friday to perform the tests and try to understand what happened to the whale. WTKR Outer Banks reporter Will Thomas captured video and photos Friday morning, which had lingered for a while just off shore near the Corolla Light Oceanfront Grille.
People who stopped by to watch Thursday described the scene as bittersweet.
Watch: Whale carcass spotted offshore in Corolla
“We were just walking the dogs this morning, taking them on a little beach walk and we were like 'oh my gosh, what is that in the water?'" said Hannah Howard, a longtime Outer Banks visitor.
That’s the reaction of many people who have come across the humpback whale in the surf in Corolla, something that every person we spoke with said they had never seen before.
“Insane, insane, my first thought is just heartbroken," said Kaiya Slobodianuk, who is visiting the Outer Banks for the first time from Wisconsin.
Watch related: Necropsy performed on dead humpback whale
“It was definitely cool but it’s a little sad, especially it being a juvenile," said Andrew Picataggi, a longtime Outer Banks visitor.
A marine biologist with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network told us she believes the mammal is a female juvenile humpback whale at around 30 feet. They reached the conclusion after seeing it up close, while also taking samples.
The challenge as of Thursday early evening is that it remains in the surf. Crews are waiting for it to wash ashore, or get close enough to the shore for them to pull it in.
Watch related: Fishermen catch great white shark off Hatteras Island
Once that happens, an examination will take place, all depending on how much the whale has decomposed. Predator bites can clearly be seen on its body and it is floating belly up.
Humpback whales are currently in an unusual mortality event, which has been the case since 2016.
This is the sixth observed dead humpback whale off North Carolina’s coast in 2025 and the second in the Outer Banks.
In 2024, nearly a dozen whales washed ashore in North Carolina and Virginia — most recently, a female juvenile humpback, which was found near the Bennett Street Beach Access in Kitty Hawk on Dec. 27.
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