Edinburgh sperm whale carcass removed THE carcass of a sperm whale that washed up near an Edinburgh beach has been towed to a deep water harbour for removal. The 13.8 metre whale was discovered at Portobello beach near the Rockville hotel in Joppa, Edinburgh, at about 7.30am on Saturday. Marine experts believe it may have died after being hit by a boat in deeper water and then washed towards the shore. It was not possible for the council to remove the whale from the water at Joppa so it was towed along the Firth of Forth to a deep water harbour in Fife where it will be lifted by a crane. It will then be taken to a Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme facility at Dunbar, East Lothian, where they hope to perform a post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death, but it depends how much the animal has decomposed. Teams from Police Scotland, the Scottish SPCA, Whale and Dolphin Conservation and British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) were at the scene. In 2012, a pod of 26 pilot whales washed up in a beaching further up the east coast in Pittenweem, Fife.