PROVIDENCE (AP) -- The New Bedford Whaling Museum has been chosen to receive the skeleton of a 65-foot blue whale whose body was towed out of Narragansett Bay last weekend.
The museum was chosen yesterday because it has enough space to display the entire skeleton, said Teri Frady, spokeswoman for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Woods Hole, Mass. The museum also will give researchers access to the skeleton to study the bones.
"The museum will strike a balance between scientific research and public education," Frady said.
The skeleton will be displayed in a new $3.5 million lobby that is scheduled to be built by the time the blue whale is ready for public view in three years, said Ann Brengle, director of the Whaling Museum.
The whale was believed to be the first dead blue whale found on the Eastern Seaboard since the late 19th century. The 1- to 2-year-old blue whale was towed Saturday onto Second Beach in Middletown after being found a week ago wrapped around a tanker's bow. It had a fractured skull and jaw on its left side, possible evidence of collision with a ship.
Scientists dissected the whale Sunday and Monday while hundreds of onlookers watched. Its remains will be used for research, which might be applied to bolster its population.
To prepare the skeleton for display, any flesh remaining on the bones must be removed, Frady said. The rest of the whale is being sent to research laboratories and for burial at the Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge Center in Middletown, R.I.
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