Dauphin Island Sea Lab: Mobile Bay Stranded Sperm Whale Post-Mortem Exam Findings

Press release from the Estuarium at Dauphin Island Sea Lab:

February 25, 2021

Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network (ALMMSN)

“The sperm whale was a young adult male that was more than 33-ft long and weighed over 32,000 lbs,” stated ALMMSN Veterinarian, Dr. Jennifer Bloodgood.  ALMMSN provided stranding photographs of the whale’s flukes (tail) to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Southeast Fisheries Science Center, which collects and maintains photographs to identify individual whales, much like using a human fingerprint. “We learned that this whale was previously photographed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2012, nearly 200 miles off the coast of southwestern Florida.  Based on this and other natural history information, we estimate this whale was between 12 and 20 years old,” said Bloodgood.

This press release was produced by the Estuarium at Dauphin Island Sea Lab. The views expressed here are the author’s own.