DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Officials say a pygmy sperm whale has died after stranding itself on a Florida beach.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that 10-foot-long marine mammal was spotted Friday morning.
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Volusia County Beach Safety and Ocean Rescue Capt. Andrew Ethridge says the county's marine mammal stranding network and the Marine Discovery Center responded to help.
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The whale was packed with ice to preserve its internal organs and taken to the Discovery Center so Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute biologists could conduct a necropsy and try to determine why the whale died.
Biologist Wendy Noke says there were indicators of heart disease, a common cause of death in pygmy sperm whales