Dead whale washes up along shore in Boca Raton

NOAA sending marine biologists

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A dead sperm whale washed up along the shore of Boca Raton on Friday morning.

The Boca Raton Police Department's marine unit found the whale about a mile offshore as a school of sharks feasted on its carcass.

"Because of the strong winds coming from the southeast here, that hour and a half it came from about a mile out and washed up here on shore," said police spokesman Mark Economou. "We're hoping with the tides coming in, it kind of just floats back out to sea at this point. There's not really anything else that can be done."

The male whale likely weighs 15 tons, said a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine biologist, who added that the whale was too decomposed to determine how it died.