NEW YORK - Marine conservationists and government scientists are seeking clues to the mystery of how a 44-foot (13m) whale carcass ended up on the bow of a cruise liner, where it was discovered as the ship approached New York City's Port of Brooklyn over the weekend.

A necropsy, the animal equivalent of an autopsy, identified the deceased marine mammal as a mature female sei whale, an endangered species typically found in deep waters far from land, the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society said on May 8.