# Lots of Dead Dolphins



## Dolphin Girl (May 21, 2004)

Hey guys, be on the lookout for dead dolphins. There's been a sh*tload of them washing in this week. Galveston County's count is up to 15 for the week! Then there's like 3 more to go pick up in Jeff. Co. tomorrow. NMFS is getting the network to start doing toxicology tests now. Could be something like red tide or something. I'll let y'all know if I hear anything.

Anyway, if you find an animal dead, don't touch it. Take some pics if you can, note where you're at, and if you have a cell signal, call 1-800-9MAMMAL. Or if you can't remember the number, just PM me or post up on here and I'll get all the info turned in.

Mucho gracias guys!


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## pkredfish (Jan 14, 2005)

I take it that you mean the porpoise kind of dolphin.


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## Moonpie (Jun 20, 2004)

Saw one down near the mouth of the Brazos on the beach yesterday afternoon.

Decomposed badly.


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## Dolphin Girl (May 21, 2004)

pkredfish said:


> I take it that you mean the porpoise kind of dolphin.


Yeah, the mammal kind, not dorado 

FYI, regardless of what anyone tells you, we don't have porpoises in the Gulf of Mexico.


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## BeachBumCSF (Nov 22, 2005)

pkredfish said:


> I take it that you mean the porpoise kind of dolphin.


Dolphin as in mammal, not fish. FYI, porpoise are normally found in colder waters. They have them in the Atlantic, but out of the 29 species of marine mammals in the Gulf, no porpoises of found here. Common mistake for people.


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

Dolphin Girl said:


> NMFS is getting the network to start doing toxicology tests now. Could be something like red tide or something.


Can't be red tide because these thingies breathe air, or am I confused? I thought red tide was lack of oxygen in the water due to bacterial blooms or something. Seems with mammals die offs are often viral. Hope it's not the durn bird flu or something.


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## Dolphin Girl (May 21, 2004)

justletmein said:


> Can't be red tide because these thingies breathe air, or am I confused? I thought red tide was lack of oxygen in the water due to bacterial blooms or something. Seems with mammals die offs are often viral. Hope it's not the durn bird flu or something.


I'm no marine biologist or anything, but from what I understand, red tide produces some kind of toxin. Dolphins absorb the toxins through the fish that they eat. Somehow it affects their respiratory and nervous systems. I think you can be affected by the toxins by breathing in the air around the algaea, but again, I really don't know that much about red tide...

Correct me if I'm wrong Bum...


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## BeachBumCSF (Nov 22, 2005)

justletmein said:


> Can't be red tide because these thingies breathe air, or am I confused? I thought red tide was lack of oxygen in the water due to bacterial blooms or something. Seems with mammals die offs are often viral. Hope it's not the durn bird flu or something.


Red tide is a red algae bloom that uses up all the oxygen in the water. Its also toxic. Have you ever been near the beach or bay during a bloom? Have you ever noticed an irritation of the eyes or lungs? When the cells are broken up, they release a toxin. In most cases, its a mild irritation. In some cases, its a serious health risk to humans. Well, marine mammals are very much like humans. We share many of the same diseases. We can get them sick as they can get us sick. Just as some humans are sensitive to red tide blooms, so are dolphins. So sensitive that it could cause death.

Also, the red tide may not directly kill them. They become stressed and weaken to the point the immune system is weak. Other inffections that would not normally bother them can play a serious risk in the weaken state.


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

That makes sense Bum, thanks for clearing that up.


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

Saw an interesting story about the navy testing super secret sub tracking sonar in the pacific that ran all the mammals onto the beaches and stranded them, go figure.


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## REDKILR (Apr 30, 2005)

I saw a show sometime back about this same thing.Come to find out that the dolphins were killing each other.They showed them hitting them out of the water like they were playing.Weird stuff.


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## BeachBumCSF (Nov 22, 2005)

CoastalOutfitters said:


> Saw an interesting story about the navy testing super secret sub tracking sonar in the pacific that ran all the mammals onto the beaches and stranded them, go figure.


Well, dolphin and whales use echo location to navigate the seas. This is very similar to sonar. Imagine the sense that receives the signal from echo location being overloaded at one time. It freak out the dolphins in the area and cause them to flee. In a panic, if there is land near by, it could force them to beach themselves.


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## Dolphin Girl (May 21, 2004)

REDKILR said:


> I saw a show sometime back about this same thing.Come to find out that the dolphins were killing each other.They showed them hitting them out of the water like they were playing.Weird stuff.


Yeah, they're not all cute and sweet. I know people, myself included, who have been bitten, fluke slapped, rammed, etc. They could take out a human if they wanted to.


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## BeachBumCSF (Nov 22, 2005)

Yes, I have had a few bottlenose dolphins try to up end me in a tank while during rehab. They don't like to be caught to administer medication or drawl blood for blood work.


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## REEL CRAZY (Dec 21, 2005)

I saw on the TPW web site that there is a red tide going on around Aransas Bay, Corpus Christi Bay and all of the Laguna Madre including South Bay at this time.


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## adpostel (Jan 14, 2006)

*I saw one of those*

I know its prolly a little late to post, but while prefishing for the specktacular on last Tuesday, I believe, we saw a dead dolphin on the east side of the channel going to East Bay from the Dike. We had to turn around to really see what it was, I was scared it might have been a capsized sailboat or something with the fin in the air. We saw it from prolly 100 yds away at first, then a little closer, and had to go see. It was a badly decomposed dolphin, stunk really bad and looked even worse. Weird, I wish I woulda had the number that was posted, I woulda called. Just FYI'ing


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## BeachBumCSF (Nov 22, 2005)

adpostel said:


> I know its prolly a little late to post, but while prefishing for the specktacular on last Tuesday, I believe, we saw a dead dolphin on the east side of the channel going to East Bay from the Dike. We had to turn around to really see what it was, I was scared it might have been a capsized sailboat or something with the fin in the air. We saw it from prolly 100 yds away at first, then a little closer, and had to go see. It was a badly decomposed dolphin, stunk really bad and looked even worse. Weird, I wish I woulda had the number that was posted, I woulda called. Just FYI'ing


Next time call 1-800-9-MAMMAL and report it. Thanks.


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## ZenDaddy (May 22, 2004)

*Wait a second ...*



Dolphin Girl said:


> I'm no marine biologist or anything, but from what I understand, red tide produces some kind of toxin. Dolphins absorb the toxins through the fish that they eat. Somehow it affects their respiratory and nervous systems. I think you can be affected by the toxins by breathing in the air around the algaea, but again, I really don't know that much about red tide...
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong Bum...


Dolphin Girl,

I thought you were a Marine Biologist (or at least a student of marine biology.) Not that it is any of my business, but is this not the case? Are you just a kind hearted citizen looking after the welfare of marine wildlife?


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## Dolphin Girl (May 21, 2004)

ZenDaddy said:


> Dolphin Girl,
> 
> I thought you were a Marine Biologist (or at least a student of marine biology.) Not that it is any of my business, but is this not the case? Are you just a kind hearted citizen looking after the welfare of marine wildlife?


Nope, I have a bachelor's in general business with concentration in industrial engineering. I've just always been interested in dolphins and whales and have been volunteering with the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network for a few years now. I've learned a lot from the people who volunteer through necropsies, animal rehab, etc. I try to read as much as I can about cetaceans. It's just a fun hobby that fits well with all the fishing we do!


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## ZenDaddy (May 22, 2004)

Well, Dolphin Girl .... that really is 2Cool


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## activescrape (Jan 8, 2006)

*manatee*

Red tide has been real bad the last two years along the sw coast of Fl. I worked down there for most of that. I've seen it so bad they were literally scooping up the dead fish off the beach with front end loaders. I guess the dolphins were smart enough to leave the area, but the manatees weren't. In about a one month period last year there were about 15 that turned up dead. The official results indicated red tide was the cause of death. Don't ask me how.


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## FishinTheBarge (May 21, 2004)

I know between December of last year and February of this year there were over 125 strandings in the area of Wellfleet, Mass. The "Holiday Mass Strandings of 2005", but these were attributed to strong storms over there though.


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