NEW YORK (PIX11) – A dead whale washed ashore at Fort Tilden in Queens on Saturday morning, according to a Facebook post by the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society. 

The dead whale was first discovered floating in the waters surrounding New York on Thursday. 

The U.S. Coast Guard notified AMSEAS of a deceased Minke whale floating in the Lower and Raritan Bay, which spans New York and New Jersey. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officials located and documented the whale’s death, officials said. 

“AMSEAS has been responding to large whale strandings in New York since 2017 as part of the Greater Atlantic Region Stranding Network,” read the organization’s website.  Since 2017, 26 reported whale strandings have occurred along the New York coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

AMSEAS is working with Gateway National Recreation Area, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and the NOAA to gather more information on the dead whale, the agency’s Facebook said.