Unusual Mortality Event of dolphins in the Florida Panhandle

2026, February 3. USA, Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Levy and Citrus counties in Florida, USA. A large bolide. Time: Around 11:50 pm. Coordinates: (29°00'36.0"N 83°21'00.0"W) GLM detected. First notified by witness from Wakulla County 160 km away to the NW. Image: GOES Lightning Mapper (GLM). NASA’s All Sky Fireball Network logged this as Event 20260203-023717. The fireball was a fragment of an asteroid traveling at approximately 72,100 mph (32.2 km/s). It was first detected at an altitude of 56 miles over the Gulf, west of Bonita Springs, and travelled northwest for 100km before disintegrating roughly 45km above the ocean.

2026, March 7. USA, Florida Panhandle, Gulf of Mexico. More than a dozen dead dolphins have washed up along the Panhandle coastlines this month. The Florida Panhandle Marine Institute said they’re working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and National Marine Fisheries Service to investigate. We are told that most of the dolphins were found in Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe, with one also discovered in Walton County.

Important Points:

February 3, 2026 (11:50 PM): The bolide airburst occurs. This is offshore from the Big Bend (Levy/Citrus County's.

February 15–28, 2026: Scattered, individual reports of dolphin carcasses began appearing in the marshy areas of the Big Bend (closest to bolide event).

March 7, 2026: A major "spike" or cluster of 12+ dead dolphins is discovered in Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe (Florida Panhandle), roughly 200 km northwest of the bolide site.

Currents and Movement

Oceanographic data for the West Florida Shelf during February and March 2026 shows a consistent north-to-northwest flow. Surface Direction: During late winter, the nearshore currents along the Big Bend typically move water (and anything in it) toward the Apalachicola Embayment and the Panhandle. The Theory: If a pod of dolphins was acoustically disoriented or injured by the pressure wave at the bolide coordinates (29°N) in early February, the natural shelf currents would have helped guide or drift disoriented animals toward the Mexico Beach area (30°N) over the following weeks.