A young humpback whale washed ashore in Virginia Beach early Sunday morning.
The Virginia Aquarium’s Stranding Response team will perform a necropsy and determine the cause of death.
Related: Dead humpback whale found at Cape Lookout National Seashore in December
In January, a group of North Carolina fishermen encountered a humpback whale off the coast of Wrightsville Beach; another group of whales were sighted the same month by people boating near the Cape Lookout Lighthouse in Carteret County.
Last year, more than a dozen humpback whales were found dead along the coasts of New Jersey and New York over the span of a few months
Related: Climate change is hindering humpback whales' return from the brink of extinction
Humpback whales were decimated by commercial whaling in the 19th and early 20th century, but after they were added to what is now called the Endangered Species List in 1970, the population has rebounded from a low of about 10,000 to nearly 80,000 now.
There have been more than 70 reports of humpback whales seen off the East Coast this season.
