Dolphin Carcass Recovered in Highlands, NJ

• On Tuesday, April 7th, at approximately 2pm, a decomposed dolphin carcass was found floating near the Highlands Bridge construction site in the Shrewsbury River. 
• The carcass was found by the construction crew and a crane operator moved it from the water to the beach on the north side of the bridge, within the construction site.
• The local stranding network organization (Marine Mammal Stranding Center) was unable to assist because they were already responding to several live seal strandings, so staff from the NOAA/NMFS Sandy Hook Lab arrived on scene to help document the carcass and identify the species.  
• Photographs taken by NOAA/NMFS staff indicate the species is most likely a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), which is the same as the group of 16 dolphins that resided in the Shrewsbury/Navesink River system between June 2008 and January 2009.  Additional analyses will help confirm the species. 
• It is too soon to tell if this individual is from the group of 16 dolphins.  The carcass is too decomposed to make an accurate match with the photo-id catalogue, which uses dorsal fins and visible body markings to identify and track individual animals. 
• It is also too soon to tell when or where this dolphin may have died.  Carcasses from different species of marine life (dolphins, turtles, sharks, etc.,) have floated into the area before, so it is possible this animal died outside of Sandy Hook Bay and was brought into the Bay with the currents and tides. 
• NOAA/NMFS’ Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program has made arrangements for the carcass to be retrieved and analyzed by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to determine age, sex, stomach contents, population stock and possible cause of death.  Tissue samples will also be tested by the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center to determine population stock through genetic analyses.  
• NOAA/NMFS last documented dolphins in the river system on January 13, 2009.  At that time, there were only 5 animals from the original group of 16 remaining in the area (8 dolphins were never resighted, location and condition unknown, and 3 dolphins stranded between September and December 2008).  A local restaurant owner and his staff observed multiple dolphins leaving the area on January 15, 2009, right before the river froze over.