Scientists Alarmed at Increase in Bottlenose Dolphin Deaths Along US East Coast

Marine scientists are alarmed at the rate of bottlenose dolphins that are washing ashore dead or dying along the U.S. East Coast beaches over the past several weeks.

Carcasses of bottlenose dolphins have washed up on beaches from New Jersey to Virginia at above average rates. Since the month of July nearly 21 dead dolphins were spotted. The most recent dead bottlenose dolphin was found near Beaumont Avenue and it was discovered in a complete decomposed state. Ten baby dolphins have been found dead in Delaware since June. This year nearly 82 dolphin strandings were reported this year which above the average of 64, reports Nature World News.

It was noticed that most of the recent dolphins stranded were males.

It is still unknown what is causing such strandings that are higher than normal this time of year. But the officials assume that the dolphins are dying in such huge numbers as a result of disease, predation or the naturally occurring virus morbillivirus that caused the death of 90 dolphins in 1987 off New Jersey.

"We are a little bit concerned about it," the Virginia Aquarium's Mark Swingle told WAVY. "It's definitely at a much higher level than we're used to seeing at this time of year."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service (NOAA) is working on the cause of deaths by analyzing the information collected by marine stranding response centers along the East Coast.

According to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, which is working with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the deaths are a part of the natural disease cycle and not linked to the quality of water. Necropsies on dolphins that were found dead on the New Jersey coast since July 9 confirm that the four dolphins had died due to pneumonia.  In one of the recovered dolphins morbillivirus was confirmed, but the results for other dolphins are still pending, reports the Associated Press.

"We're trying to collect any info we can to see if there are any trends," Maggie Mooney-Seus, spokeswoman for the NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, told the Press of Atlantic City. "Right now we don't have enough info to say we're seeing anything out of the ordinary. We're still collecting the data."

 The officials advise the public to stay away from dead or dying dolphins.