Fishermen Discover Massive Inflated Whale Carcass on Verge of Exploding
Beached whales can present a danger to humans even after the ocean mammals are dead. Because methane gas builds up inside whale carcasses after they die, they can easily explode in a shower of blood and innards either on shore or out in the ocean.
Fishermen off the coast of northern Norway saw firsthand what a whale carcass on the verge of exploding looks like. Dag Rydland has been doing his job for nearly three decades, but in an interview with Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, he said the recent humpback carcass encounter was a first for him.
"I have been a fisherman for 27 years, but I have never seen anything like this. I have seen dead whales both on land and in the sea, but nothing like this," he said. Rydland and his crew were boating near the island of Andøya in the Arctic Circle when they saw a massive floating black sphere about half a mile away. When they got closer and realized it was a whale and not something else like a mooring buoy, they didn't spend too much time looking at it, as they knew it could explode at any moment.
Whale researcher Tiu Similä also visited the floating carcass while it was still intact, though she was smart enough to keep her distance.
"We drove around him, but not close," she told Norwegian news outlet NRK, adding that "it looks like he's going to explode."
If you find yourself near a bloated whale carcass, you probably want to stay as far away as possible to avoid any disgusting mishaps, or worse. Curiosity did kill the cat, after all.
