Sperm whales live in deep water; how did one get stuck in Sarasota County?
VENICE, Fla. (WFLA) — A sperm whale caused quite a commotion in Sarasota County after it washed up off the coast of Venice Sunday morning.
While crews were unable to get the whale back to sea before it died, researchers are working to understand what happened to the 44-foot creature.
Beached sperm whale in Venice has died, officials say
According to experts, the endangered sperm whales typically live in deep waters across the world’s oceans, including the Gulf of Mexico. A sperm whale is capable of spending 60 minutes in 10,000-foot water while hunting for squid, sharks, skates, and deep-water fish — consuming about 3% of their body weight each day.
Because of this, sperm whales are rarely seen near the coast.
Laura Engleby, chief of marine mammal branch NOAA fisheries, Southeast Region, said the 70,000-pound adult male was thin and appeared to have marks from what appeared to be attacks from other male sperm whales.
“Obviously this whale wasn’t feeling very well and wasn’t doing very well to be this close to shore and in this kind of condition,” she said.
The Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida states there are about 2,000 whale and dolphin beaching incidents across the world every year. Usually, a live cetacean stranding is caused by sickness or injury.
According to Engleby, researchers see about two sperm whales per year in the southeast United States. The last one spotted in the Gulf Coast was in 2008, but in 2022, an emaciated 47-foot male sperm whale beached itself in the Keys, having ingested trash that kept it from eating normal food.
As much of a predator as these toothed whales are, sperm whales face multiple threats, many of them human. NOAA states that these can include vessel strikes, entanglement in fishing line, ocean noise, marine debris, and even climate change.
Previously, sperm whales were targets for whalers who wanted to use the waxy substances in the whale’s heads, called spermaceti, for oil. Now that whaling is no longer a major threats, the population of these whales is recovering, according to NOAA.
Engleby said a necropsy was planned after the whale is brought to shore. However, it could take the whole day to determine what happened to the whale.
The branch chief also stated that the incident will allow researchers to learn as much as they can about sperm whales but emphasized that this was a somber event.
“It’s a really sad opportunity,” she said.
After the necropsy, crews will tow the whale out to sea to return it to nature. Whale carcasses provide a significant amount of nutrition to life in deep waters, with the phenomena being referred to as “whale falls.”
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