Rare sperm whale carcass washes up on beach in southern Israel

A dead sperm whale washes up on the Zikim beach in southern Israel — only the eighth carcass of this massive creature to appear on an Israeli shore since records began.

Experts from the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station at northern Israel’s University of Haifa and from the Delphis marine mammal protection organization are en route to conduct a necropsy and determine the cause of death.

Dr. Mia Elser of the Delphis Association says that since 2020, there have been more sightings of live sperm whales at sea, which aligns with the rise in the number of carcasses reaching the shore.

Estimates suggest there are still between 250 and 2,500 individuals in the Mediterranean Sea. This specific population is declining and is classified as endangered.

“The Mediterranean sperm whale population is genetically distinct and isolated from the Atlantic population,” explains Dr. Aviad Scheinin, who heads the Apex Predator Department at the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station. “They even have their own unique ‘dialect’ — a specific sequence of clicks they emit that characterizes only them.”

The main threats they face include drift nets intended for catching other species, gas and oil surveys that can damage their hearing or drive them away from feeding grounds, and ingestion of plastic waste, to which sperm whales are particularly prone.

Sperm whales are the largest of the toothed whales.

לוויתן ראשתן נפלט הבוקר לחוף הים בזיקים
אביתר בן אבי, פקח היחידה הימית ברשות הטבע והגנים, קיבל הבוקר דיווח על לוויתן שנפלט לחוף זיקים בשטח שמורת הטבע הימית ים שקמה. מדובר בפרט גדול של לוויתן ממין ראשתן.

???? ד"ר מיה אלסר מעמותת דלפיס מספרת כי מתחילת המחקר בישראל תועדו בחופי הארץ… pic.twitter.com/pruiwFxa0T

— רשות הטבע והגנים (@rashut_hateva) February 24, 2026