Whale carcass found off Middle Keys (Florida, USA)

A mysterious shape seen Sunday in gulfside waters off Grassy Key turned out to be the remains of a dead sperm whale, according to experts. JEANNE RICHTER.

 Wednesday, September 29, 2010 (KEVIN WADLOW). At first, the odd object floating in Gulf of Mexico waters off Grassy Key appeared to be a capsized boat.

“We saw this thing out there,” said Jeanne Richter, “but when we got closer, we could see, no, it’s a whale.”

A dead whale that smelled “very nasty,” said Richter, who spotted the carcass Sunday morning, about half a mile north of the Grassy Key shoreline near mile marker 59.

A federal marine-mammal biologist described the dead animal as a sub-adult sperm whale, probably measuring more than 20 feet long when alive.

The badly decomposed but still sizable carcass is still in local waters, being carried by tides and currents to wherever nature determines it will end up.

Stranding-response volunteers with the Marine Mammal Conservancy of Key Largo responded to the report Sunday and confirmed the whale was dead, said Liz Tuohy-Sheen, assistant stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Because it was very decomposed and very scavenged, it was determined that it was not feasible to tow it in,” Tuohy-Sheen said.

No cause of death was evident, and the deteriorated state of the remains meant any information gained from a necropsy “would be pretty limited,” she said.

“People should stay away from it. It’s illegal to interfere with a [marine mammal] carcass even though it is decomposed,” Tuohy-Sheen said.

She added, “It’s not uncommon to see sperm whales strand in South Florida and the Keys.”

But it was a new experience for Jeanne and George Richter, boating back to their Grassy Key home after a trip to Marathon.

“We’ve been here since 1984 and it’s the first one we’ve seen,” Jeanne said.

If the whale carcass comes ashore on private property or in shallow water where it creates an odor problem, a report can be filed with stranding hotlines: (888) 404-3922 for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or NOAA at (877) 433-8299.

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