Whale fossils in Santa Cruz area draw gawkers

[Admin Rose]

Pleasure Point is revealing another of its treasures, this time the bones of a sea creature drawing low-tide gawkers to the sandstone beds below the bluffs.

The fossilized skeleton of what appears to be a small whale, intact but for the head, has been uncovered off the end of 36th Avenue, inspiring the wonder of surfers and dog walkers alike. Experts estimate it is 3 million to 5 million years old, a remnant of a shallow sea that once lapped at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

"We never noticed it before, and I've been here for 40 years. It's a new one," said surf legend Jack O'Neill, whose home looms over the fossil find.

What sets this set of bones apart is that they are well-preserved, and their upright articulation in the tidal zone makes it seem as if the creature was frozen in time as it swam to sea.

"The way that one just sort of appeared out of the mist and the intertidal zone, people get really excited," said Gary Griggs, director of UCSC's Institute of Marine Sciences.

It is the second major find of whale bones in the past three years. In 2009, a set of bones was excavated from within the cliffs, which are part of the Purisima Formation and date at least to the Pliocene epoch, during work on the armoring of the East Cliff bluffs.

A mold of those bones were later imprinted into a concrete bench in the newly renovated Pleasure Point Park. The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History also has a collection of whale fossils.

Because of its location in the water, the bones are not likely to be excavated. O'Neill and others believe more of the creature will be revealed over time by tidal scour, but experts asked onlookers to leave the bones as they lie.

"As it is revealed, it will get destroyed," said Karl Heiman, an amateur paleontologist and owner of Caffé Pergolesi and Mr. Toot's Coffeehouse, who discovered and helped excavate the 2009 fossil find.

With its jagged, curved spine, many locals have taken to calling the fossils a "sea monster." But 6-year-old Natalie Blanco, a student at Good Shepherd Catholic School, wasn't buying it.

"I think it's a whale skeleton," Blanco said Thursday evening on a visit to the site with her family, though she had hard questions about how bones could be rocks, too.

Similar errant designations are no stranger to county shores. In 1925, a mysterious-looking creature washed up on what is now called Natural Bridges State Beach.

The "Moore's Beach monster" appeared to be attached to a 15-meter neck, according to one (probably overblown) account. In reality, it was likely the head and elongated body of a tubular-shaped Baird's beaked whale washed ashore.

The new creature appeared after O'Neill armored his own section of the East Cliff bluffs and removed tons of riprap from around his home. But O'Neill said he doesn't think that had anything to do with the discovery, and believes the next opportunity for a good viewing is Dec. 11 through Dec. 14.

The find is drawing widespread attention. The creature's picture has appeared on the Huffington Post website, and Griggs said he was interviewed by an ABC-TV station in New York City.

County Supervisor John Leopold said it is not uncommon to find fossils in the Pleasure Point tide pools.

He added that while Pleasure Point is known for many things, "to be a whale graveyard is not something you generally think of."