Texas dolphin die-off puzzles scientists
Pastor Dale Morgan
Texas dolphin die-off puzzles scientists*
Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:46pm ET15
DALLAS (Reuters) - The stranding deaths of about 60 bottlenose dolphins
on Texas beaches over the past three weeks has puzzled researchers and
is a cause for concern during the calving season, a senior scientist
said on Monday.
"This is the calving season so we often have strandings at this time of
the year. It's tough to be an air-breather born in the water," said Dr.
Daniel F. Cowan, professor of pathology at the University of Texas
Medical Branch at Galveston and director of the Texas Marine Mammal
Stranding Network.
"But over the last few weeks we have had about 3 to 4 times the usual
mortality," he told Reuters.
Most of the carcasses were in an advanced state of decomposition,
suggesting that they were carried to Texas beaches from areas further
off or up the shore.
Suspected causes include parasites, an outbreak of infectious diseases
or red tide, an algal bloom prompted by fertilizers or other excess
nutrients.
Most of the dolphins have been too decomposed for a necropsy -- the
animal version of an autopsy -- and so volunteers have been burying them
on the beaches.
Several of the dolphins which have washed up on shore have been young
with umbilical cords still attached.