Swimmers are advised to stay out of the water at Venice Beach and locations south as sharks may be present.

The no-swim advisory issued Monday by the City of Venice Emergency Management comes as a sperm whale became beached over the weekend on the Sarasota County shoreline. It’s in effect from the beach south to include Service Club Park, Sharky’s on the Pier and Casperson Beach.

Wildlife officials have been working to perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death. That involves teams of people cutting into the animal and peeling back parts of whale blubber. Ultimately, several tests will be performed on the whale.

In the meantime, the work performed on the whale carcass along the shoreline could attract animals that may be looking to feast.

“We are concerned about predation. There will be a lot of bloody fluid going into the water, so we really want to keep people safe so from here south, we really strongly advise people stay out of the water,” said Gretchen Lovewell, the stranding investigations program manager at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium.

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