Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed a beached sperm whale struggling to stay alive this weekend has died overnight at about 3 a.m. off the coast of Venice, Florida.
High winds and surf prevented authorities from assisting and reaching the whale on a sandbar. They were going to attempt to rescue the whale again today, but it didn’t survive the night.
Officials at Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota thought the male whale weighing between 50,000 – 70,000 pounds was extremely underweight, which indicates possible underlying health issues. The whale is approximately 50 – 70 feet long.
It is also very uncommon for a sperm whale to go that close to the shore in the Gulf of Mexico.
Once marine officials get the whale as close as they can to the beach, with the aide of heavy machinery, they will take measurements, pictures and samples from the blubber, muscles and organs, then conduct a necropsy to determine the cause of death.
By - FZ
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