The whales appeared disoriented and lethargic, 

 but moved steadily ashore. Their behavior and 

 movements appeared similar to the responses of 

 trained dolphins in a strange environment (Irvine 

 1971 ). Most animals offered little resistance when 

 pulled by their flukes and turned away from the 

 beach, but they usually turned and again moved 

 slowly toward shore. Some whales grounded on 

 shoals in the bay and either floated off on the 

 rising tide, or died there when the tide ebbed. 



The whales pushed off from Site A were pre- 

 vented from moving toward shore by a FMP 

 motorboat moving around the pod. The whales 

 were herded towards the river mouth and by late 

 afternoon, using the combined action of two FMP 

 boats, the volunteers helped 20-30 whales move 

 past the surf line. Another 10 were counted in the 

 river at dark, and an additional 20-35 whales re- 

 stranded and died at various locations between 

 Site A and the outer surf zone, including 10-15 at 

 Site C. Other whales apparently moved out to sea 

 without human assistance, or died and drifted out. 

 Between 0930 and 1440 h, we measured, sexed, 

 and tagged 17 whales (9 males and 8 females) with 

 16 roto tags (Jumbo Size, Nasco Inc., Ft. Atkinson, 

 Wis.)2 and three spaghetti tags (Model FH69A, 

 Floy Tag & Manufacturing, Inc., Seattle, Wash.). 

 We worked opportunistically on animals close 

 enough to deep water to be refloated. Seven tagged 

 whales (4 females, 3 males) eventually stranded 

 and died in the Fort George River area. Total 

 lengths of the tagged whales that restranded and 

 died were males: 308, 450, and 468 cm; females: 

 277, 3.50, 380, and 385 cm. Total lengths of unre- 

 covered whales were: males 375, 443, 440, 446, 

 478, and 547 cm; females: 353 and 374 cm. Two 

 females were tagged but not measured. 



8 February 1977— At 0800 h, 1 whale was alive 

 near Site A, as were 10-15 whales near Site C, but 

 all died within a few hours. The whales near Site C 

 apparently drifted inland with the rising tide. 



Aftermath —Between 8 and 16 February, about 

 40 dead whales were recovered from adjacent 

 areas, including river branches and tidal creeks as 

 fai-as6-8km northwest of the principal stranding 

 sites. Several groupsof 5-10 whales traveled north 

 up the river on 6 February, but we know neither 

 how many animals stranded and died there, nor 



how many carcasses were moved to their recovery 

 location by currents. Single whales stranded at 

 Anastasia State Park (lat. 29°53' N, long. 81 16' 

 W), 56 km to the south on 9 February, and at 

 Jacksonville Beach (lat. 30n8' N, long. 80°12' W), 

 10 km to the south on 1 1 February. A total of 135 

 dead whales were ultimately recovered (Figure 2) 

 and examined by Mead. The size and sex composi- 

 tion of this group is similar to that of other mass 

 strandings of this species (Mead unpubl. data) and 

 probably represents a normal social aggregation. 

 On the same morning ( 6 February ) that the initial 

 stranding took place on Fort George Island, a 

 group of 1 5 pilot whales stranded on the south end 

 of Cumberland Island, Ga. (lat. 30°45' N, long. 

 81 °28' W ) 40 km to the north. This group may have 

 separated from the larger school prior to strand- 

 ing. 



Figure 2.— Length-frequency distributions of male and female 

 pilot whales stranded at Fort George River. Duval County, Fla, 



Three decomposed carcasses, thought to be G. 

 macrorhvnchiis. were seen, but not recovered, 

 near Mayport (lat. 30°23' N, long. 8r29' W) at the 

 mouth of the St. Johns River in June 1977 (D. 

 Gicca^). 



Two whales stranded on 13 February on 

 Wadamalaw Island (lat. 32'35' N, long. 80°11' W) 

 near Charleston, S.C, some 220 km (straight-line 

 distance) to the northeast. Interestingly, the ani- 

 mals entered the mouth of the North Edisito River 

 and moved into Bohicket Creek before stranding 

 at Rockville, 7.5 km from the coast. One was a 478 

 cm male, tagged near Site C with spaghetti and 



''Reference to product names does not imply endorsement by 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 



'D. Gicca, Biological Technician, Gainesville Field Station. 

 National Fish and Wildlife Laboratory, 412 NE 16th Avenue. 

 Room 250. Gainesville. FL 32601, pers. commun. June 1977. 



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