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And after the sighting, the Clearwater Marine Research Institute headed out to see if the animals were still inside the reef - which would mean they were in danger. Courtney Menzies went out with them and has this story.

Alarm bells were sounded after 30 false killer whales were spotted in the Drowned Caye area - waters that are too shallow for these creatures. The sighting spurred the Clearwater Marine Research Institute into action and together with the Fisheries Department and WCS, they headed out to find these mammals.

According to the program director, Jamal Galves, it's uncommon to find false killer whales inside Belize's reef.

Jamal Galves, Program Director, Clearwater Marine Research Institute
"It's a mysterious animal, it's not an animal you usually see especially in coastal waters, it's known to occupy pelagic, deeper waters, 1,000 meters in depths, so for it to be here it's very unlikely, it's not the habit for it, it's not where it feeds, it's not where it's used to being. It's a cause for alarm and hence the reason why we put out a release to alert boaters, mariners and people to be aware of it so that they don't cause further problem to this pod."

"Like pilot whales, false killer whales are known to strand, not the first time it's happened in Belize. We've had incidents last year, we had I think an incident in 2018 where we had about 70 false killer whales that were in this area. It doesn't change the message, the message is the same. Those two species are known to occupy deeper waters, not coastal shallow waters that we have in here."

And fear crept after several dorsal fins were spotted in a shallow area. However, on closer inspection, we found that the fins belonged to six bottlenose dolphins who were feeding and mating.

Had the false killer whales been caught in that area, it would have been disastrous.

Jamal Galves, Program Director, Clearwater Marine Research Institute
"If these animals should end up beaching, that present a significant problem for us to deal with the carcasses. If the animals are beached and alive, normal interventions would try to float them back into sea, if they're alive. Other than that, if it dies we'll probably do a necropsy, a human autopsy on these animals to determine cause of death. In certain cases, these animals are euthanized to avoid suffering, depending on what conditions they are in. But oftentimes it's not the entire pod that is compromised, it's usually sometimes only one or two animals that is compromised but due to the tight knit of the pod, they tend to stay together. So one animal is compromised, disoriented, ends up in shallow waters, and it drags the entire pod into spaces like this."

But fortunately, the animals weren't spotted and according to Galves, this is a good sign.

Jamal Galves, Program Director, Clearwater Marine Research Institute
"By all indications, they were heading south. South would lead them to the English Caye Channel, which I presume is where they got into here. We're hoping once they get into that channel, they figure themselves out. They're very sharp navigators in deeper waters, shallow waters also makes them disoriented, they're unable to communicate, they're unable to traverse and to travel as they normally do in deeper waters."

Courtney Menzies:
"Are you relieved that we didn't find them today?"

Jamal Galves, Program Director, Clearwater Marine Research Institute
"Certainly, we came out looking for them, if there's a need for them to intervene, most certainly we'll do so and we'll be happy to intervene but very much relieved that they weren't seen and my hope is that they've actually made their way out and they're on their journey."

Still, they will keep monitoring the area and they're also asking the public to keep a lookout as well. Galves gave some advice on what to look out for.

Jamal Galves, Program Director, Clearwater Marine Research Institute
"Like dolphins, but they're dark. They're black in color, much larger than dolphins and they're very close knitted so they're usually in larger groups than you'd see dolphins in except when dolphins are mating or feeding, you'll see them in much larger groups. In these shallow waters you'll see them typically on the surface resting because they're disoriented. Also one of the concerns is that these animals feed on squid and pelagic fishes. We don't have that inside this reef so should they stay in here much longer and then hunger starts to become a problem for them as well."

But Galves said that once they've made it to the channel, it's likely that they've found their way out of Belize's shallow waters.

If you spot these animals out at sea, you can report it to the number 615-3838.