Reports of a dead whale washed up on the beach at St Andrews began circulating on social media on Wednesday evening.
“Overseen down the west sands, a dead whale almost seven metres long,” reported Julie Seymour.
“Such sad news,” said another post.
The whale, possibly a minke, was understood to have been washed up near the river Eden at the other end of the beach from the town.
Pictures of people around the carcass of a whale were shared on social media and there was speculation that it had come to grief as the whale’s tale had become entangled in fishing gear.
Possibly due to the remoteness of the whale, news had been slow to spread with local businesses saying that they hadn’t heard of the sad discovery.
Although some of the messages on social media said that the discovery had been reported so that the whale could be removed, Police Scotland said they couldn’t shed any light on the incident.
The Scottish Marine Stranding Scheme will be investigating the incident on Thursday according to Facebook posts though a high tide was expected, raising the possibility that the whale could be washed out to sea.
