11 More Pilot Whales Found Dead in Florida, Necropsies to Occur Monday

Eleven short-finned pilot whales found dead Sunday near Key West, Fla. are suspected to be part of the larger pod of 51 whales that stranded last week in a remote area of Everglades National Park.

The 11 whales were spotted on Snipe Point, about 6 miles north of Sugarloaf Key in southern Florida, about 80 nautical miles south of the beach where the pod was initially reported stranded Tuesday, according to Blair Mase, a marine mammal stranding network coordinator for NOAA.

Of the 51 stranded whales reported last week, 22 are dead and the rest are unaccounted for as of Monday morning. Eleven of the whales were dead by Fri., Dec. 6 -- the last time living members of the pod were seen. Two Coast Guard aerial surveys Saturday did not locate any whales, and Sunday the 11 additional dead whales were found. It is believed that the latest dead whales are part of the same stranded pod.

"We don't know for sure, but we suspect they are from the same group," Mase said in a conference call with reporters Sunday afternoon.

A team is going out Monday to conduct necropsies on the deceased whales, Mase said, adding that this set of 11 is in better condition for necropsy than the previous set.

Officials said they will investigate a number of theories as to what killed the whales. Among the causes of death being speculated upon are morbillivirus, red tide and sonar from naval operations.

Morbillivirus, the measles-like virus that caused hundreds of bottlenose dolphins to die along the mid-Atlantic coast this summer, has been reported in dolphins in Florida and short-finned pilot whales are known to contract it. Results of the necropsies will reveal whether morbillivirus played a role in the whales' deaths.

Red tide, large algal blooms known for turning water a rusty color, produce toxins and deplete sea water of dissolved oxygen. Mase said there are reports of red tide going on in the southwest Florida coast.

"That's something we are going to be testing for," she said, "but at this time it's not suspected" to be the cause of death.

Mase added that the Navy usually lets NOAA know if there is any kind of sonar activity going on near any stranding events. "We're expecting to hear back from them sometime this week," she said, adding that at this point, the deceased whales are not showing any gross evidence of trauma.

"At this point we don't know what the cause [of death] is," she said.