When they bite, they leave circular wounds and remove inverted ice cream cone shaped pieces of flesh, Cooper said. The small sharks have round mouths lined with razor sharp teeth. He surmised this because the whale's torso was covered in dark polka dot-looking circles that Cooper said were scars from cookie-cutter shark bites. 'I think this is an older animal,' Cooper said. But so far, there's nothing obvious to indicate that it was related to human activity such as a boat strike. The scientists took measurements before eventually cutting into its body to take samples and to inspect for possible injuries or signs of illness or injury.Ĭooper said it's too early to tell what happened to the whale. Park Service station in Key Largo, where scientists conducted their necropsy-an autopsy for animals-on Monday beneath tents set up under a canopy of trees over a boat ramp. The 14-foot long animal, an adult male Gervais' beaked whale, had died, said Art Cooper, a biologist and founder of Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder.įish and wildlife officers towed the whale to a local marina where it stayed until it was taken to a U.S. The agency then contacted the federally sanctioned whale stranding response nonprofit, Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder, which dispatched a team within 30 minutes. Sunday and called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Bystanders saw the animal struggling in about two to three feet of water around Harry Harris Park, a small oceanfront park in Tavernier, around 4 p.m.

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