The death of a right whale on Zikim Beach is not only an unusual and shocking event, but also a rare scientific opportunity to examine diseases, pollutants, parasites, and environmental pressures affecting marine mammals in the Mediterranean Sea.
By: Dr. Danny Morik, head Department of Blue Biotechnologies and Aquaculture, University of Haifa
On February 24.2, a head of a giant squid – one of the most impressive and enigmatic animals in the oceans – washed up on the shore of Zikim. Such a sight on the Israeli coastline is not common, and certainly not in the Mediterranean. Beyond the public curiosity and the dramatic images, this is a scientific and ecological event of profound significance.
What caused the death?
The possible causes are varied:
• Infectious or parasitic disease
• Damage from a vessel
• Entanglement in fishing nets
• Exposure to unusual underwater noise (military sonar, drilling)
• Ingestion of marine debris
What can be learned from an autopsy in the field?
A beached whale autopsy is not just a record of death – it is a rare window into the deep world. Tissue, blood and fluid samples allow:
• Histopathological examinations
• Pathogen identification (including through advanced sequencing)
• Testing levels of heavy metals and organic pollutants
In some cases, age, reproductive status, and even chronic stress levels can also be assessed through hormones in tissues.
The Mediterranean Sea, a semi-enclosed sea with high human activity load, poses a particular challenge for marine mammals. Such an event provides a biological indicator – a sentinel event – of the state of the marine environment.
And what does this say about the population situation?
The Mediterranean population of tadpoles is relatively small and genetically isolated from the Atlantic Ocean. Every detail counts. A single event does not necessarily indicate a trend, but multiple events over time may indicate increasing environmental pressure.
In addition, climate change affects prey distribution, water temperature, and current patterns – which may lead to deviation from normal migration routes or entry into shallow and dangerous areas.
Between curiosity and responsibility
The public gathering around an enormous animal is natural. But beyond the emotion, there is a responsibility here: to keep a distance, not to harm its body, and to allow professional teams to conduct organized examinations. Cooperation between the Nature and Parks Authority, researchers, and mariners is critical to understanding the event.
The first reminds us that the Mediterranean Sea is not just a landscape – but a living, complex and fragile ecosystem. Sometimes, to understand its state, it takes a dramatic event that brings questions to the surface.
Numerous samples were taken and further tests will be performed to determine the cause of death and additional findings such as parasites and heavy metals for ecological monitoring. The autopsy itself showed no signs indicating the cause of death.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
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Without calling the situation a mess
Before you mark my emails as spam and delete them, think twice, because sometimes reality surpasses imagination.
Someone who claims to know everything may find themselves in a position of realizing that they actually know nothing and that much of what they know is wrong, and usually unnecessary.
What do you know about life?
What do you know about death?
What do you know about space travel?
What do you know about the Basman journey?
What do you know about extraterrestrial life?
What do you know about the genetics of Homo sapiens?
What do you know about creation?
You don't know anything.
Please observe the crop circles and imagine for yourself whether two or more adults with ropes and time tables could create them overnight without drones and lighting.
This is a need for purity of your origin:
You don't know anything.
Much of what you know is wrong.
Most of the things you do know are unnecessary.
Have you ever thought that the speed of light is much, much higher than 300 thousand kilometers per second?
Have you ever thought that interferometry is the wrong way to determine the speed of light?
Have you ever wondered why devilfish and anglerfish are seen at sea level, or on the shore, even though they live at a depth of 1 km or more, at a pressure of 100 kg per 1 cm?
Occam's Razor – If a phenomenon has several explanations, take the simplest one. All the other ideas you proposed are too complex to implement even by omnipotent nature. On the other hand, the issue of the man-made climate crisis has been known and studied for decades, and even at the beginning, its impact was clear. The fact that politicians were bought by people in the energy industry should not change the basic fact.
And what about sea temperatures?
Have you considered that the temperatures of the seas and oceans are rising as a result of the warming of the Earth's crust and not because of greenhouse gases?
And what about the possibility of a disruption in the Earth's magnetic field and a change in the Earth's magnetic north that caused the "navigation software" that has been in his brain for thousands of years to bring him to shore?
And what about the possibility that there is an external factor far from Earth that causes all of Earth's climatic and geological phenomena, and that it is getting closer here every day?
Are we to blame for everything, Mr. Knower? Or maybe we missed something?
Something very big? Something huge?
Think about it.
Socrates said, "I know that I do not know."
I suggest you adopt his approach.
Because you don't know, but you think you know.
When you know, you will be shocked, like the whole world.
Very soon.