A dead seal washed ashore on Squibnocket Beach in Chilmark last week.
The gray seal was found on the Chilmark beach on Jan. 20. Andrea Gomez, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, said the animal was likely not a fully grown adult based on its size of 5 foot 9 inches.
According to NOAA Fisheries, an adult gray seal can grow up to 7.5 to 10 feet in length and weigh between 550 to 880 pounds.
“No obvious cause of death was seen on the external examination, and the carcass will be left in place,” Gomez wrote in an email.
Gomez said members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head’s Natural Resources Department, which is the local partner that responds to stranded marine mammals, had also spray painted the “date of data collection so the carcass isn’t double counted if it’s reported again in a new location.”
If you see a stranded, distressed, or dead marine mammal, contact a local stranding network partner or call NOAA’s stranding hotline at 866-755-6622.