Post-Mortem Exams Being Performed on 2 Dead Whales Seen Floating Off New York This Week

Members of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance practice a necropsy on the carcass of a humpback whale at Lido Beach in Long Island, N.Y., on Jan. 31, 2023. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y.—Two dead humpback whales were spotted floating in the waters off New York this week, officials said, part of a troubling rise in whale deaths in the region.

Necropsies were being performed Friday to determine what killed the two whales that were first seen Wednesday, one off eastern Long Island and one in Raritan Bay between New Jersey and the New York City borough of Staten Island.