Biologists filmed a whale with scoliosis

The Valencia Oceanographic Foundation, in a post on social media, said that biologists were able to film a 17-meter fin whale with severe scoliosis that was swimming off the coast of Valencia in Spain.

It is noted that for the first time the fin whale was seen by the skipper of a local yacht, who believed that the animal was struggling to swim, probably entangled in a fishing net. Biologists and veterinarians who arrived at the scene found that the whale was not entangled in the net at all, but was moving strangely due to scoliosis. A severe curvature of the spine in the animal was found in the pictures from the drone.

Biologists were going to attach the tracker to the whale, but the twisted spine did not allow it. A few hours later, the animal barely left the coastline, in great pain and unable to move its tail normally. Despite the exhaustion and whale lice, according to biologists, the fin whale overcame thousands of kilometers for the sake of migration.

Scientists admit that the deformation of the fin whale’s spine could have occurred as a result of a collision with a ship, while not excluding that scoliosis can also be a congenital anomaly.