STRANDED PYGMY SPERM WHALE DIES FORT PIERCE, FLA., March 15 Ð The adult pygmy sperm whale that beached itself near New Smyrna Beach this morning died shortly after being hoisted into the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution's Dolphin Ambulance. The whale will be taken to Sea World where a necropsy will be performed. Scientists will be trying to determine if the cause of death was the same as that for two other pygmy sperm whales that have beached themselves recently. They will also be trying to determine if all three whales came from the same "stock", or group of whales. Dolphin Program Director Steve McCulloch said this latest stranding is troubling, because it indicates a virus or other condition that is affecting a stock population of pygmy sperm whales off Florida's east coast. The whale that beached itself late Sunday, March 12, was transported to Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, and died one day later. The pygmy sperm whale that beached itself near Stuart on February 18 was also transported to Mote Marine Laboratory in the Dolphin Ambulance. It died two days later. In both previous cases, the whales were found to be suffering from gastric ulcers, gastric stasis, dehydration, emaciation, stomach parasites, fluid in the lungs, high liver and kidney enzyme levels, and a low white blood cell count. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc. is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to the exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of mankind.