Further beached whale found in Pyrgos

Another beached beaked whale was found on Thursday in Pyrgos, raising the total in the freak phenomenon to 13.

There is still no official explanation for the mass deaths of the Cuvier’s beaked whales and the unprecedented incident has caused alarm.

So far, eight have been found in the government-controlled areas – mainly along the northern Paphos coast – and five further into the north of the island.

It is understood that the fisheries department has conducted autopsies and taken samples for further evaluation, but precise results and conclusions are still pending.

Reports and academic studies have found that this species of whale appears to be particularly susceptible to military sound pulses – sonar, typically used during naval exercises.

Indeed, professor of marine animal biology at the University of St Andrews Peter Tyack, said exposure to sonar “pushes some whales over the edge – some lose their ability to manage gases under pressure, causing gas bubbles that can injure or kill, and some strand on the beach and die”.

In comments to the Independent in 2019, he explained that the whales typically try to move away from the sound source but then become disorientated and rise to the surface too rapidly, leading to decompression sickness.

Other possible explanations may be the seismic vibrations from the recent earthquake in Turkey or noise from exploratory seabed drilling. Such activities can cause stress and disorientation to cetaceans which rely largely on their sense of hearing and communicate with each through high-frequency echolocation.