35- to 40-foot fin whale washes up on Torrance Beach; public asked to keep a distance

Officials are asking beachgoers to keep a distance from a 35- to 40-foot fin whale that washed ashore on Torrance Beach on Saturday evening and later died.

“Due to its size & location it is expected that the whale will remain on the beach while responders create a plan to remove it,” the Los Angeles County Lifeguards group said in a posting on X. “If you are in the area please give the animal & responders plenty of space to work.”

Lifeguards discovered the whale about 6 p.m. Saturday, located between Redondo Beach and Malaga Cove. The Marine Mammal Center and National Fisheries Service later determined the whale was dead.

The cause has not yet been determined, but fin whales are especially susceptible to collisions with ships, according to marine mammal experts. Warming ocean waters are also disrupting food supplies, while entanglement with commercial fishing lines is another danger whales face.

Fin whales are the second largest animals on Earth after the blue whale. Like the blue whale, fin whales are balleens, sporting two blowholes and, instead of teeth, hundreds of rows of baleen plates made of keratin. The plates, lined up in a row, are used to strain food from water — mainly small fish and plankton.