Biologists spent much of Thursday afternoon dissecting a 30-foot humpback whale that washed up just west of the Elephant Rock Beach Club late Wednesday or early Thursday.

The large juvenile lay about 500 yards west of the beach club parking lot. It had been spotted  floating about three miles off Westport Wednesday afternoon, so its arrival was not unexpected. Westport officials were in contact with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which sent a crew of biologists down to examine the cetacean, an endangered species.

The humpback had clearly been dead for some time before it came ashore, and bore scars from boat strikes on its belly. Westport Animal Control Officer Nick Vidmar, who stood by as the necropsy unfolded, said that since the whale washed up on private property, it is the beach club’s responsibility to clean it up. It will be cut up and buried onsite, he said.

This is at least the second beached whale to show up along the stretch between the Nubble and Sakonnet Point over the past several months. Earlier this summer, a minke whale, which was still alive when it came ashore, died on the beach and was necropsied from Mystic Aquarium biologists.

Despite the smell, a sizable crowd of onlookers watched as biologists took tissue samples shortly before 2 p.m.