FIRE ISLAND, N.Y. (AP) — Marine experts say a humpback whale that washed up on Fire Island appears to have been hit by a boat, but a pathologist will conduct more tests to determine what caused the animal's death.

The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society conducted a necropsy Monday of the 33-foot-long female whale. Her heavily decomposed body was found Sunday on the barrier island off Long Island's southern shore.

The society says the whale had evidence of injuries consistent with being struck by a boat. But various samples are being sent to a pathologist to help confirm the cause of death.

Results may not come in for several months.

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