Body Of Rare Whale Found In Everglades National Park

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — A whale was found dead in the waters of Everglades National Park.

Park officials said in social media posts that the Bryde's whale carcass was recovered Wednesday.

The young adult male was 38 feet long and weighed nearly 30 tons. Federal Marine Mammal Stranding Network experts performed a necropsy, but it wasn't clear what caused the whale's death.

Bryde's whales are the only year-round resident baleen whale in the Gulf of Mexico. They are named for Norwegian whaler Johan Bryde, who helped build the first whaling stations in South Africa in the early 1900s.

Meanwhile, the Naples Daily News reports eight dolphins were found dead on Florida's southwest coast during the government shutdown, when the federal scientists who would have responded were furloughed.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)