Flagler Beach, Fla. – Beachcomers stumbled on a 400 pound whale skull tied to the Flagler Pier Thursday.
Biologists secured the skull to the pier the day before so they could later haul it off for study.
Susan Jeffers captured video of the skull in the swash with some blubber decomposing on the jaw bone.
Carcasses from whales typically sink to the seafloor and and these whale falls become food for scavengers. In this case enough fat on the bone floated it with waves pushing it ashore.
The malodorous stench of decomposing tissue was overbearing as ten people lifted the 8 foot long skull into the back of a pickup.
It was taken to Marineland's conservation field office where Biologist George Biedenbach said it is an adult whale but the type of species is not yet know.