May 30, 2019 — Twelve dead dolphins have washed up on bay and ocean breaches in Delaware over the last two months.
Among the most recent: A decomposed bottlenose dolphin calf showed up on Memorial Day at Cape Henlopen State Park, and another was found Saturday on the coast in Rehoboth Beach.
What caused many of those deaths remains unclear: Most of the dolphins that washed ashore were largely decomposed by the time officials arrived from the Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute (MERR) in Lewes.
In an ocean filled with predators and scavengers, as well as the sun beating down on hot days, it can often be a challenge to get good enough tissue and fluid samples to figure out what happened.
“I’m not seeing anything out of the ordinary whatsoever at this point,” said Suzanne Thurman, executive director of MERR. “It’s always note-worthy, but it’s not a spike.”