Most of Stranded Pilot Whale Group in Florida Not Located in Aerial Search

The whereabouts of a pod of wayward short-finned pilot whales is largely unknown after several dozen of the mammals were reported stranded in shallow water earlier this week, a NOAA official said Friday morning.

Seven of the pilot whales were spotted in about 13 feet of water, and another two were were located near the shore by the Coast Guard, said Blair Mase, a marine mammal stranding coordinator with NOAA. However, a Coast Guard helicopter search did not find the larger group of 24 remaining whales Friday morning.

Although it is unclear what will become of the majority of the missing whales, Mase expressed cautious optimism in a conference call with reporters.

"It's encouraging that they have not seen them," Mase said of missing whales. "They may have gone out to sea, but we don't know."

The best case scenario would be if the whales continued to move off shore, Mase said.

A Coast Guard team on the water will continue to monitor the group of seven whales. The two whales near shore were spotted in about 2 or 3 feet of water near Plover Key during an aerial sweep Friday morning. Mase said it is believed the two whales were swimming, but their condition was unclear at the time of the conference call. A team is en route to assess the two whales close to shore, Mase said.

Late Tuesday, a group of about 50 whales was reported in dangerously shallow water near Highland Beach, a remote location on the Gulf of Mexico side of Everglades National Park in southern Florida. The site's remote location - more than an hour away by boat from the nearest boat ramp - and a lack of cell phone service has complicated efforts to reach the whales and assess the situation.

When marine mammal stranding network rescuers arrived on site early Wednesday, six whales were dead on scene and another four were euthanized because they were unresponsive. An 11th whale was found dead Thursday in a location not far from the original stranding site.

Necropsies are being preformed on the deceased whales. Mase said that it will take weeks before the necropsy results are in, but initial assessments indicated some of the deceased whales were malnourished, but that nothing "jumped out" as a clue to why the typically deep-ocean dwellers came into the shallows.

However pilot whales are a social, cohesive species. They are the most common animal to mass-strand in Florida. If one member of the group is sick and beaches itself, it is not uncommon for the rest of the group to stay, not wanting to leave a group member behind.

Mase said officials plan to monitor the remaining whales throughout the day and into the weekend.