According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a necropsy revealed the whale may have suffered a ship strike due to the blunt-force trauma it appeared to have.

These animals don’t frequently wash up on Huntington Beach’s shores. Agencies are looking into the cause of death of the young whale.

A deceased humpback whale washed ashore near the Huntington Beach Pier last week, prompting an investigation from wildlife officials.

A young humpback whale that died, presumably, after it became trapped in a commercial mussel-farming line off Long Beach, Ca., has washed ashore in Huntington Beach.