Authorities at Barnegat Peninsula Island Beach State Park have identified a huge skull that appeared on the shore of the town of Berkeley on Sunday. The skull belongs to a minke whale and is believed to be the same animal buried on the beach last year.

The State Park Police posted a photo of the skull on Facebook, with a policeman next to it for comparison.

Before the skull was identified, the discovery sparked a series of speculations on social media, and some people correctly identified it as the minke whale, the smallest baleen whale.

One commenter said: “It is too small for a humpback whale, and the back of the skull is too wide-however, this is a close relative-the minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata.” “This is an immature specimen. But it is much more mature than a humpback whale of the same size.”

Others risked wishful thinking that it was a pterodactyl, although its growth and condition clearly indicated that it was modern rather than fossil.

Those who are just wild guesses think that marine biologists should be invited to evaluate the specimens.

“George must be called, he is a marine biologist, and he can tell us what it is!” A commenter mentioned “Song Fei.”

Bob Schoelkopf, founder of the Brigantine Marine Mammal Stranding Center, told Voice of Philadelphia that there is good reason to believe that the skull came from a minke whale that was discovered and buried near the dune line of Island Beach State Park in June 2020. Floods and tides can erode the beach, exposing fragments of buried animals.

“When you dig a hole for an animal as big as a whale, you can’t be precise,” Schoelkopf said, adding that some bones may be deeper than others. The skull may have an air pocket to help bring it to the surface.

Schoelkopf said it is not uncommon to find that the skull is largely intact. He hopes to see the skull used in the Park Interpretation Center, a small museum where it can be a learning tool for children.

Northern minke whales, also known as common minke whales, are distributed in the Atlantic Ocean from Greenland in the north and New Jersey in the south. In September 2019, a Young minke whale euthanized After it was washed ashore in Island Beach State Park, there was another juvenile minke whale Died at Sandy Hook Bay Pier Earlier that year.

Minke whales are not considered an endangered species, but strandings on the east coast of the United States have increased in recent years. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration FisheriesSchoelkopf said they have become a fairly common occurrence on the coast of New Jersey.