The dead dolphin found at La Misericordia beach SUR

Dead dolphin washes up on beach in Malaga city

The striped dolphin species is common along the coasts of the Alboran Sea, but it is very rare to see them close to the shore

Ignacio Lillo

Malaga

Monday, 8 May 2023, 18:41 | Updated 19:20h.

The corpse of a dolphin washed up on a popular beach in Malaga city this Monday morning.

The dead striped dolphin sparked the curiosity of beachgoers at La Misericordia as well as people walking past along the Antonio Banderas promenade, prompting local police to cordon off the area.

Marine biologist Jesús Bellido, from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, told SUR the mammal was an adult specimen of striped dolphin, and would have been dead for a few hours when it was discovered in the morning.

Following the recent closure of the Aula del Mar, a marine centre which would have studied this type of case, the responsibility to determine whether it is of interest to carry out a necropsy to determine the cause of death went to the Junta de Andalucía.

Malaga city council's cleaning services will be responsible for removing the carcass.

The striped dolphin is common along the coasts of the Alboran Sea, but it is not common for them to come close to the shore.

However, in a rare scene in 2019, a small group of the dolphins was spotted inside the Marqués de Guadiaro dock of the Port of Malaga.

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