i ^^ MARQUESAS 



DRY •• ^°° 

 T0RTU6AS '-k'F 



KEY WEST 



50 km 



X 



Figure l. — Outline map of south Florida indicating principal 

 stranding sites and possible routes of travel of the false killer 

 whale herd. Fort Pierce is located just north of lat. 27° N on the 

 east coast of the state. Box represents region covered by succeed- 

 ing figure. 



were photographed exiting Captiva Pass (Lar- 

 son^). All moved northward in or near the In- 

 tracoastal Waterway after entering Pine Island 

 Sound via Redfish Pass. They continued north- 

 ward and returned to the Gulf of Mexico via Cap- 

 tiva Pass (Florida Marine Patrol see footnote 2; 

 Larson see footnote 3) (Figure 2). The animals 

 originally entered Redfish Pass at about 0830 h. 

 The tide was rising and near the high point 

 (Florida Marine Patrol see footnote 2). The exact 

 time, and thus tidal conditions when the animals 

 exited Captiva Pass are unknown to us. It is in- 

 teresting to note that a spinner dolphin, Stenella 

 longirostris, herd stranded on Casey Key (lat. 

 27°12'10" N, long. 82°30'30" W) 7 days earlier 

 (Mead et al.'*). This site is about 75 km north of 

 North Captiva. 



='Peter Larson, Sanibel Island Reporter, Sanibel, Fla., pers. 

 commun. 1976. 



"Mead, J. G., D. K. Odell, R. S. Wells, and M. Scott. 

 1978. Biological observations on a mass stranding of spinner 

 dolphins (Stenella longirostris) from the west coast of Flori- 

 da. Unpubl. manuscr. Division of Mammals, Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, Washington, DC 20560. 



172 



GULF 



MEXICO 



5 km 



I 1 



Figure 2. — North Captiva Island and vicinity, south Florida, 

 indicating Redfish Pass and Captiva Pass where the false killer 

 whales entered and exited Pine Island Sound. The four females 

 taken to Sea World stranded on a sand bar located off the south- 

 east side of North Captiva (indicated by an arrow). Intracoastal 

 waterway is indicated by dashed line in Charlotte Harbor and 

 Pine Island Sound. 



2. A herd of 30 false killer whales stranded on 

 Loggerhead Key, Dry Tortugas (Figure 1), at ap- 

 proximately 1300 h on 25 July on a falling tide. 

 This site is some 235 km south of North Captiva 

 Island. The herd was divided into two groups at 

 the time of stranding (Shinn^). The animals were 

 pushed back into the water and kept wet by U.S. 

 Coast Guard and National Park Service person- 

 nel. We measured and sexed the animals and 

 photographed their dorsal fins and flukes for indi- 

 vidual identification of the animals on 26 July. We 

 repeated the measurements and photographs, col- 

 lected blood samples and marked each animal 

 with a spaghetti tag (Floy Tag FD-68B^ anchor 



*Eugene Shinn, U.S. Geological Survey, Miami, Fla., pers. 

 commun. 1976. 



*Floy Tag & Manufacturing Inc., Seattle, Wash. Reference to 

 trade names does not imply endorsement by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, NOAA. 



