Another dead dolphin washes up on Adelaide beach at Seaford (Australia)

The dead dolphin washed up at Seaford. Picture : Greg Adams

August 15^th, 2013. ANOTHER dead dolphin has been found washed up along Adelaide’s coastline this morning.

Authorities are investigating how the 2m-long marine mammal came to be on Seaford beach.

Since March, 35 dolphins have washed up on South Australian beaches.

Rangers were alerted about the death and inspected the adult bottlenose today to establish how it died amid fears it was related to a virus that has hit the marine mammals in the state.

Witnesses reported spotting the dolphin washed up on near Three Poles, at the end of Aldam Road, about 9am. Images show it has parts of its flesh exposed.

Greg Adams, a local freelance photographer, came upon it while walking his dogs.

“I was walking the dogs on the beach and there it was,” he said.

“I stopped, had a look and I had my camera so I took some pictures. It looked like it had not been there very long. It was fairly large. The beach was quiet.”

The official cause of death has yet to be determined, an Environment Department spokeswoman said. The South Australian Museum will now undergo an autopsy in the next few weeks.

“At this stage, the cause of death is unknown, though there is no evidence of foul play,” the spokeswoman said.

A multi-agency investigation in June blamed an outbreak of morbillivirus for causing an immune suppression in some young dolphins, which allowed fungal and parasite infections to thrive.

Another dolphin was found washed up at Port Noarlunga.

But it has revealed the fatal morbillivirus was only found in a handful of the dolphins which washed up on beaches.

Referring to today’s incident, the spokeswoman added: “Like any species, dolphins in the wild die from numerous causes.

“Dolphin morbillivirus will now be routinely considered as a possible cause of death.”

Ndlr Sibylline : If there is no microscopic lesions in correlation with the presence of antibodies, it doesn’t mean nothing. It just shows that the dolphin has been in presence of the pathogen. The severity of morbillivirus depends of the host immune resistance.

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