Narragansett — Animal rescue staff at Mystic Aquarium soon will be starting a necropsy — a medical examination of a dead animal — on a minke whale found in the waters around Point Judith.

Aquarium spokeswoman Dale Wolbrink said a fisherman reported the dead whale to the aquarium's hotline on Monday.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management will retrieve the whale once water conditions are appropriate. Wolbrink said retrieval depends on "swells, wind, that kind of thing, anything that would make boating problematic."

At the discretion of RIDEM, the whale then will be taken to an undisclosed onshore location, where Mystic Aquarium scientists will perform the necropsy.

The goal is to find out the whale's weight, age and cause of death, Wolbrink said.

Mystic Aquarium will be processing some data but sending out most of the pathology information to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other organizations.

Minke whales can weigh up to 20,000 pounds and live up to 50 years, according to NOAA. They prefer eating in cooler waters and at higher latitudes.