Students from a college in east China's Shandong Province were shocked to find a dead whale in their canteen, local website JiaoDong.net reports.

A dead whale appears in a canteen at Shandong Institute of Business and Technology in Yantai city, Shandong province, in this photograph released on Sina Weibo on Monday, May 21, 2012. [Photo: weibo.com]

The whale, which was first found on Monday afternoon in the canteen of the Shandong Institute of Business and Technology, was bloodstained and had been cut open at the mouth according to a description provided by a student surnamed Wang.

The information, along with photographs of the whale, soon spread on the Internet and raised heated debate among students and faculty. Employees at the canteen, who estimated that the whale weighed as much as 400 kilograms, said many students had inquired as to whether their dishes were being made from whale meat.

The local police and fishery department began investigating the case on Monday. Officials said the whale had been primarily identified as a Rorqual, which is a second class nationally protected species and is not allowed to be sold under any circumstances.

The college said they were unaware of the incident until students posted the information online, as the canteen is a privately run business.

The investigation revealed that the whale had been frozen for two months. It is reported that a friend of the canteen manager sent the whale to the canteen for processing. After students posted the information on their microblogs and notified the police, the canteen manager returned the whale to his friend and did not sell the meat in the canteen.

The manager of the canteen has not yet been contacted for comment. Related departments have stated that they will conduct further investigations in order to find out how the manager's friend acquired the whale.

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