SAN DIEGO — Living in San Diego often provides a unique and up-close look at our marine life.
Beach-goers on Thursday got to see what was left of a gray whale that washed ashore in La Jolla.
The whale was first spotted Wednesday night near the La Jolla Children's Pool, then made its way to La Jolla Shores. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists took their samples, then it was hauled away to the Miramar Landfill.
"Who knows the origin, it probably has a thousand stories to tell!" lifeguard Lonnie Stephens said. "We saw a lot of birds on what appeared to be an object."
"It's sad that a whale had to wash up on shore," Chris Matthews said, who was at the beach Thursday.
Scientists from NOAA say it's likely no more than two years old due to its 18-foot length. The average length for an adult gray whale is 45 feet. Their average lifespan is 50 years.
"Sometimes it's heartbreaking to see, other times it's beautiful to see the cycle of life ebb and flow," Stephens added.
Lifeguards spotted the carcass about a mile off shore, then our strong winds today pushed it further inland.
"It was heavily decomposed, you could tell it was a whale - but mostly parts," Stephens said.
Shireen Shipman saw it while out for a morning scuba dive.
"You could smell the whale from where we were parked," she said.
Shipman said seeing this giant creature up close only gave her more appreciation for the marine life we co-exist with.
"The shoulder blade, the scapula had to have been three feet in width," Shipman said. "It was big. It's so cool to see all of the animals here locally, we have so much diversity, so much color, so much life."
Amy Gomez saw the whale carcass and bones, while doing a beach clean-up.
"It was very interesting to see a whale show up in the shore, it was incredible. We all have to have respect for the ocean and help take care of it," Gomez said.
The number of gray whales is climbing back up again, in terms of population. This is the time and over the next month or so they'll be off our coast. They typically will swim north from Baja then feed in the Arctic and prepare for their summer migration. Their average weight is 90 to 100,000 pounds.
Scientists told CBS 8 they often see young whales starve and become stranded.
"Whether it was a boat strike, or if it was sick, who knows," Matthews said.
NOAA scientists say there were no obvious broken bones. Their tissue samples will be used to run genetics. In a couple of weeks, we should know the gender, age, possibly which pod it's been part of and cause of death.
Lifeguards say alert them if you see a whale getting too close to shore so they can redirect it out to sea and possibly avoid an outcome like this.
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