
The dead adult male dwarf sperm whale that washed up on the beach in Carova on Friday, Jan. 24, is pictured as beach-walkers found it the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 25. (Photo courtesy Rhonda McAlister Sumner Limberick)
By Corinne Saunders
CAROVA — A dead adult male dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima) washed up on the beach in Carova near the Virginia state line this weekend.
The whale washed up on Friday, Jan. 24, in a state of “advanced decomposition,” according to Daryl Law, communications manager for Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head.
Volunteers with the OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network responded after the public called it in, according to Stranding Coordinator Marina Piscitelli-Doshkov.
The whale measured 243 centimeters—nearly 8 feet—and its date of death and cause of death are unknown, Piscitelli-Doshkov said in a prepared statement on Monday morning.
A necropsy is not scheduled. The dwarf sperm whale should be buried by public works on Monday, she said, calling the stranding a “normal” one.
“Kogia is the second most common stranded animal in N.C. after bottlenose dolphin,” she said. “This is stranding season now.”
The Carova whale is the second Kogia stranding of 2025, she said. On Jan. 7, a dead pygmy sperm whale calf (Kogia breviceps) was found in Buxton. A field necropsy revealed that the female calf had a broken mandible (lower jawbone).
The dwarf sperm whale is a toothed whale species found in temperate and tropical seas worldwide, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Like all marine mammals, the species is protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The dwarf sperm whale is named after “the waxy substance, spermaceti, found in its head. This organ is a sac of oil that helps the whales produce sound,” according to the NOAA website. “Similar to squids, dwarf sperm whales can produce a dark, ink-like liquid that helps them escape from predators.”
Last winter, two dwarf sperm whales—one juvenile male and one pregnant female—washed up in Nags Head several miles apart on the same day, March 8. The cause of death is not known for either, Piscitelli-Doshkov said.
Dwarf sperm whales and pygmy whales are not often sighted at sea. Their appearances and geographic ranges are similar, and they were once considered to be the same species, according to the NOAA website.
“They’re an offshore species we don’t know a lot about,” Piscitelli-Doshkov said.
This winter, the first dead whale to wash up on the Outer Banks was a juvenile female humpback whale on Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, just north of Bennett Street Beach Access in Kitty Hawk.
The Outer Banks typically sees its first dead whale of the winter wash up in late December, Karen Clark of the OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network told Outer Banks Insider at that time.
Humpback whales are known to migrate south during the winter to calve and to mate in the West Indies and Cape Verde, according to NOAA.
“In the winter it is not uncommon to observe migrating humpback whales, in particular juveniles, 500 meters from the beach,” according to the OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network website. “If you are lucky, you may also get the rare chance to observe a migrating North Atlantic right whale.”
The results of the humpback’s necropsy are not yet available and could take up to a year, according to Piscitelli-Doshkov.
In photos of the dead dwarf sperm whale a couple walking the beach in Carova on Saturday afternoon took and shared with Outer Banks Insider, the whale had what appeared to be purple spray-painted letters on it, possibly reading, “MMSN.”

The dead adult male dwarf sperm whale that washed up on the beach in Carova on Friday, Jan. 24, is pictured as beach-walkers found it the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 25. (Photo courtesy Mel Limberick)
The OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network abbreviates itself as OBX MMSN on its website.
“Spray paint indicates responders have concluded their examination,” Piscitelli-Doshkov confirmed.
Jennette’s Pier and the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island are partners in the OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network, along with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Anyone spotting a dead or alive marine mammal—such as seals, whales, dolphins or manatees—should call the OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 252-455-9654 to report it. For sightings within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, call 252-216-6892.
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