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A blue whale dies after becoming stranded - Source: Kina Scollay/Trevor Robb -
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A rare blue whale is believed to have died at sea before washing up near the northern tip of the South Island.
The dead whale was found by a paua fisherman on Tuesday on the north west coast of Nelson, just over 6km south of Whanganui Inlet.
The fisherman estimates the whale is around 27 metres.
Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. They can be up to 30 metres in length and weigh up to 200 tons (181,437 kg). Their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant.
According to National Geographic, blue whales reach those huge dimensions on a near exclusive diet of krill, tiny shrimp like animals.
Te Papa marine mammal expert Anton van Helden told the Dominion Post it is rare for the whales to get stranded and it is likely to have died at sea.
There are scars on the whale which indicates it had been "nibbled at" by scavengers, including sharks, he says.
The Department of Conservation will photograph the whale, and take tissue samples for Auckland University's whale database. It will then be left to rot as it washed up in a place too inaccessible to allows its removal.
View more images of the stranded whale
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