Fin whales are one of four large whale species in the Gulf of Maine and are the second-largest in the world behind the blue whale, growing to be as much as 80 feet long. The beached whale was 49.5 feet long and was identified as a sub-adult whale between 2 and 5 years old.

The Maine Marine Patrol initially kept people away from the whale and called Allied Whale, the marine mammal laboratory at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s stranding response program for advice.

The sight at the edge of Pigeon Hill Bay in the Down East town drew onlookers all weekend, with several of them posting photos of the whale on social media. Nichols indicated that Allied Whale planned to conduct a necropsy but referred a reporter to the college for comment on those plans.

Three minke whales were found dead over a six-day period in Maine waters over the summer in what Allied Whale called an unusual spate of deaths that accounted for one more than researchers would expect over the entire season. However, they said the deaths did not appear to be linked and were no cause for concern.

It was rare to see whales wash ashore in the 1980s and 1990s, but there have been more of these events up and down the East Coast since then. Researchers have pointed to vessel strikes, entanglements in fishing gear and the effects of climate change as factors.

Since 2016, Maine has seen eight deaths of humpback whales out of the 208 total deaths observed on the East Coast. That was deemed an unusual event by NOAA that year, a designation that leads to more research on the subject.