81 false killer whales die off Florida coast
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MORE than 80 dolphins known as false killer whales have died off the southwest coast of Florida after getting stranded in shallow waters, US officials said.
A pod of 95 of the dolphins, which are black and look like killer whales without the white markings, became stranded in the Gulf Coast off Everglades National Park, the park said on Twitter.
Photos on social media showed dozens of dolphins, some grouped in clusters of four or five, just a few meters from a sandy beach lined with trees.
“Sadly, 81 have already been confirmed dead,” Everglades National Park said Monday, adding that rescue operations were being carried out.
The dolphins had become “deeply embedded in some of the mangroves making response efforts extremely difficult,” Blair Mase, a coordinator with NOAA’s fisheries service, said in the Miami Herald newspaper.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that of the remaining dolphins, one had been seen alive and 13 others were unaccounted for.
The stranded dolphins include adults, juveniles and calves, and were first spotted Saturday in an area called Hog Key.
False killer whales are much smaller and less aggressive than their distant relative, the Orca, or killer whale. Like Orcas, scientists classify them as dolphins, not whales.
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