The Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network responded to a bottlenose dolphin dead on the beach in Fairhope on Monday, March 27.

The team recovered the dolphin and brought it to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab for a necropsy, also known as an animal autopsy. The in-depth necropsy took five hours. Researchers with the ALMMSN took hundreds of samples to determine the cause of death of this stranded dolphin.

Externally, the dolphin had signs of prolonged freshwater exposure including skin lesions and algal matting. The dolphin was underweight and dehydrated. Internally, it had monofilament fishing line in its stomach that did not appear to interfere with digestion or be related to the cause of death.

It will take weeks to months to receive diagnostic test results and, due to the level of decomposition, a cause of death may not be able to be determined. Even so, the necropsy yielded samples critical to ongoing research about the health and population of Alabama dolphins.

This is the 12th dolphin stranding since January in Alabama. Ten of these strandings were recorded in Baldwin County. These are expected stranding numbers for this time of year.

If you encounter a stranded, injured, or dead marine mammal, do not push the animal back into the water. Please call 1-877-WHALE-HELP as soon as possible to be connected to a trained responder.