Fossil Whales

The lowest layer exposed in the Sarasota quarries contains many species of marine mammals, including seals, walrus, manatees, and whales. In 1991 a nearly complete skeleton of a small whale was discovered by faculty and students at the University of South Florida. This skeleton belonged to an extinct relative of the modern Minke whale. Minke whales are baleen whales, meaning whales which collect food with giant brush-like strainers, called baleen.

This skeleton is more than 20 feet long. Many of the bones show signs of having been scavenged by sharks. The specimen is now in the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History, in Gainesville, and is on temporary exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry at Tampa.