roto tags. The other was an untagged 406 cm 

 female that later died. After both tags were re- 

 moved from the male, it was refloated by local 

 residents. The whale was followed by P. Laurie-^ 

 for 15-20 min and reported to be respiring without 

 difficulty as it moved seaward. 



As with most mass strandings of marine mam- 

 mals, the cause was not clear. A cold weather 

 frontal system passed through the area on the day 

 prior to the stranding, but was not unusual for 

 that time of year and probably was not related to 

 the stranding. None of the whales were obviously 

 injured and none appeared to follow a lead indi- 

 vidual ashore. A combination of the passage 

 through the surf into the river and the shallows in 

 the bay may have confused and disoriented the 

 animals, thus increasing the probability that they 

 would strand. The whales appeared to tire with 

 time, as evidenced by their less vigorous response 

 to being pulled off the beach on 7 February; but 

 why some animals died quickly after stranding on 

 7 February while others remained alive for hours 

 on the beach or stranded repeatedly is unknown. 



On the west coast of Florida, groups of G. mac- 

 rorhynchiis (Fehring and Wells 1976) and 

 Pseiidorca crassidens lOdell et al. = ) have re- 

 stranded at different locations, but this is the first 

 report of restrandings at different locations on the 

 Atlantic coast. Until now identification of previ- 

 ously stranded individuals has been based on rope 

 marks and dorsal fin shapes. The use of tags on 

 stranded cetaceans would facilitate the identifica- 

 tion of individuals on the shore and the study of 

 herd structure of refloated animals at the strand- 

 ing site, and would also help identify resighted or 

 restranded individuals. 



Motor boats seemed effective for herding the 

 whales and may be a means to keep refloated ani- 

 mals together and prevent immediate beachings 

 at future strandings. Boats have been used effec- 

 tively to herd P. crassidens (Odell et al: see foot- 

 note 5), although attempts to drag whales up to 1 

 km offshore at other strandings have not been 

 totally effective because the animals often im- 

 mediately restranded. 



More data are needed to determine why mass 

 strandings occur and how to deal with the animals 



once they are on the beach. If efforts to save mass 

 stranding victims prove futile because the ani- 

 mals immediately restrand, euthanasia may be 

 the most humane alternative. As shown by this 

 report, however, some animals may survive a 

 mass stranding and potentially can be a source of 

 valuable data if resighted elsewhere. It would also 

 seem that the spirit of the Marine Mammal Pro- 

 tection Act of 1972 obligates American citizens to 

 save stranded marine mammals if practical. An 

 effort is therefore needed to get experienced people 

 to a mass stranding site quickly so the rescue 

 techniques can be evaluated and data collection 

 can be maximized. 



Acknowledgment 



We thank R. Jenkins, P. Laurie, and W. Patrick 

 for providing information on the stranding events. 

 D. K. Odell and F. G. Wood offered constructive 

 suggestions on earlier versions of this report. 



Literature Cited 



EWIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE. 



1977. Climatological data, Florida. 81(2), 12 p. NOAA. 

 Environ. Data Serv., Asheville. N.C. 



Fehring, W. K., and R. S. Wells. 



1976. A series of strandings by a single herd of pilot whales 

 on the west coast of Florida. J. Mammal- 57:191-194. 



Irvine. B. 



1971. Behavioral changes in dolphins in a strange envi- 

 ronment Q J. Fla. Acad. Sci. 34:206-212. 



A. Blair Irvine 



MICHAEL D. SCOTT 



National Fish and Wildlife Laboratory 



Gamesnlle Field Station 



412 NE 16th Avenue. Gainesville. FL 32601 



Randall S. Weli^ 



Department of Zoology. University of Florida 

 Gainesville. FL 32611 



James G. Mead 



National Museum of Natural History 

 Smithsonian Institution. Washington. DC 20560 



■■P. Laune. Information Specialist. South Carolina Wildlife 

 and Marine Resources Department, Charleston, SC 29412. pers. 

 commun. February 1977. 



^Odell. D K., E. D. Asper. J. Baucom. and L. H. Cornell, A 

 summary of information derived from the recurrent mass 

 stranding of a herd of false killer whales, Pseudorea crassidens 

 (Cetacea: Delphinidae). Unpubl. manuscr. 



513 



