Marine corpse: Biologists Bethany Diehl and Josh Oliver measure the tail of a beached juvenile gray whale along the shore of Erlands Point Road in Bremerton on Wednesday. The whale was alive when the stranding was reported Wednesday morning but died soon after. Scientists from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Cascadia Research took tissue samples and will return today to perform a necropsy. Jessie Huggins, of Cascadia, said it is unusual to obtain blood and tissues as fresh as these from a gray whale, which usually are in a state of decomposition when they wash up on local beaches. In addition to determining a possible cause of death, tissue samples will be used in a variety of research projects. (Associated Press)
