Dolphin Die Off / India

DOLPHIN MORTALITY - INDIA
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A ProMED-mail post

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Date: 27 Mar 2009
Source: Times of India [edited]



An 8-foot dolphin was found washed ashore at Juhu beach on Thursday
[26 Mar 2009]. According to experts, the dead marine mammal was a
long-snouted dolphin (_Delphinus longirostris_), commonly found in
the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The dolphin, which was found
lying on the sand near the Centaur Hotel building, did not have any
visible injury except a few red rashes on parts of the skin.

"The rashes could have been caused by sunburn. Though dolphins are
very intelligent creatures, sometimes they do get disoriented due to
physical weakness or disease that makes them lose their way and come
to the shore," Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute marine
scientist Vinay Deshmukh said. He added that last week, another dead
dolphin was found at Vasai; in January [2009], a dolphin was washed
up Dadar beach.

"The fishermen here do not catch dolphins, as they worship them as
seagods. However, in Goa and some parts of south India, dolphins are
hunted for their meat," Deshmukh said.

4 of the dolphin species seen in Indian waters are the Indo-Pacific
humpback dolphin, the common dolphin, the spinner dolphin and the
bottle-nosed dolphin. Freshwater dolphins have also been seen in the
Ganges in northern and eastern India.

--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail


[This sounds like an isolated case of a dolphin washing ashore.
However, the fact that this is the 3rd one in a reasonably short
period of time makes me suspicious that this could be the beginning
of something. Perhaps early red tide? Starvation? Weather conditions?
Hopefully a necropsy will yield more information.

Image of a long-snouted dolphin (_Delphinus longirostris_):

A photo of a humpback dolphin may be seen at:

A bottle-nosed dolphin may be seen at:

A spinner dolphin may be viewed at:

And a common dolphin may be seen at:

- Mod.TG]

[see also:
Dolphin die-off - USA: (TX) 20080305.0913
2007
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Cetacean morbillivirus, dolphins - Spain 20070831.2866
Die-off, sea turtles, dolphins - Bangladesh 20070207.0480
2004
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Herpesvirus, dolphins - USA (FL) 20041104.2983
Dolphin die-off - USA (FL)(04): domoic acid 20040617.1615
Dolphin die-off - USA (FL)(03): Domoic acid 20040323.0806
Dolphin die-off - USA (FL)(02) 20040319.0762
Dolphin die-off - USA (FL) 20040312.0687
2003
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Dolphin, sea lion die-off, domoic acid - USA (CA) 20030604.1363
2002
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Dolphin/sea lion die-off, domoic acid - USA (CA) (02) 20020426.4035
Dolphin/sea lion die-off, domoic acid - USA (CA) 20020422.4011
Dolphin die-off, domoic acid - USA (Calif.) (02) 20020331.3846
Dolphin die-off, domoic acid? - USA (California) 20020325.3817
2000
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Dolphin mortality - USA (Florida) 20000104.0004]
....................tg/ejp/jw
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