In One Ear: Killer whale tail

Published 10:47 pm Thursday, April 24, 2025

“Our research team received an interesting report yesterday from Sara Eads,” Josh McInnes, admin of the Oregon Coast Killer Whale Monitoring Program Facebook page, posted on April 20. “She was walking her dogs at Fort Stevens State Beach, and found a large piece of black animal tissue. 

“She sent us photographs, and we have been able to confirm that it is part of the fluke (tail region) of a killer whale! The fluke section was 30 inches by 20 inches, and several inches thick, and weighed at least 25-30 pounds.”

Eads’ find, which she originally thought was a shark pectoral fin, is pictured with her dog, Yose, who weighs about 50 pounds. The Seaside Aquarium was notified, and retrieved the fluke piece. 

The Oregon Beach Connection spoke to McInnes, who said that the cut on the fluke looked “rather clean,” like a ship’s propeller strike. He also noted how rare it is to find any part of a killer whale just lying around on a beach. 

“I was able to contact Jim Rice at Oregon State University’s (OSU) Marine Mammal Institute, and Tiffany Boothe at Seaside Aquarium, “Innes added. “… We are hoping a sample will be sent to OSU for genetic analysis, so we can confirm if it belongs to resident, transient or the offshore killer whale ecotype.” (Photo: Sara Eads)