Seal Carcass on Manomet beach Sunday, March 7. 2010
NECWA intern Nick Schromburg and staff member Krill Carson, were called by the New England Aquarium Marine Rescue Team to check out a possible seal carcass that had been reported by a family in Manomet. It was a beautiful Sunday morning as Nick and Krill headed down to the beach in search of this animal. The tide was low and many harbor seals were hauled out on the rocks just off the shoreline. These seals looked big and fat a sign that they are feeding well in our waters offshore. It wasn't long before Nick and Krill found a small seal carcass located just above the high tide line. By the size of the carcass and the color of the fur, it was clear that this was a very young seal that had been born this spring. Because the head was missing (probably due to scavengers like coyotes) a positive ID was not possible. But given the time of year and the features of the carcass (such as the white coat of long fur) our best guess is that this was probably a gray seal pup that had recently ...