21 pilot whales stranded in the Isles of Skye injured on the Reykjanes Ridge
June 01, 2015: The pod was first spotted at 4.40 pm on Monday (June 1st) off the coast near the city of Staffin, which is situated on Scotland's Isle of Skye. Mike Merritt took a picture of the pod. lost pilot whales spyhopping trying to determine her location Notice that the pod is not swimming in any direction, or diving and feeding. They are sort of drifting along in a relatively calm sea. One whale can be seen raising his head out of the water trying to see what's going on around and near the pod. This is called spyhopping and is strong indication that the pod has no acoustic sense of direction. The loss of their biosonar was most likely due to a previous barotraumatic sinus injury caused by exposure to seismic waves above the epicenter of an earthquake along the Reykjanes Ridge ( see below). Spyhopping behavior is common in pilot whales prior to beaching themselves ( link ). They are obviously trying to see a way out of the jam they are in. The weath...