Boca Raton: Only questions in wake of dead whale

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A dead sperm whale, estimated to weigh more than 15 tons, washed ashore Jan. 10

at Spanish River Park. Boca Raton Ocean Rescue Capt. Tim Fry wraps a strap

around the whale’s tail so it can be pulled onto the beach for a necropsy.

Photo by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

    A dead 30-foot sperm whale washed up on the beach in Boca Raton just south of Spanish River Boulevard on Jan. 10. Biologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were sent to the scene to take samples for a necropsy.  

    It will take weeks or months for scientists to determine what killed the big mammal. The whale was badly decomposed and sharks had taken bites out of it. The appearance of a beached sperm whale is not that unusual.  

    The whale could have been a male, which might travel in much smaller groups or be solitary and range much farther than females, said Laura Engleby, NOAA Fisheries Southeast Region marine mammal branch chief.  The whale was towed back out to sea by NOAA.

 — Cheryl Blackerby

 

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