According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a necropsy revealed the whale may have suffered a ship strike due to the blunt-force trauma it appeared to have.

A deceased humpback whale washed ashore near the Huntington Beach Pier last week, prompting an investigation from wildlife officials.

A young humpback whale that died, presumably, after it became trapped in a commercial mussel-farming line off Long Beach, Ca., has washed ashore in Huntington Beach.

These animals don’t frequently wash up on Huntington Beach’s shores. Agencies are looking into the cause of death of the young whale.