Kochi dolphin death: Post-mortem report says death due to natural causes

KOCHI: The

dolphin

which was found dead in Kochi's

Marine Drive

on Wednesday died due to natural causes, the post-mortem report has concluded.

However, the veterinarian and scientists from

Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute

, who conducted the post-mortem at

Kodanad

in

Ernakulam

, could not identify the dolphin's gender due to advanced decaying.

Organ samples collected from the dead dolphin have been sent to the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals in Palode for further tests.


This is for the first time in Ernakulam that a post-mortem was conducted on any dolphin.

Medical officials said that the dead aquatic mammal was an adult and could have been between 35 and 40 years old. The carcass is believed to be five to seven days old.

"Primary investigation shows that the dolphin died of natural causes. We have collected samples for pathological and microbiological tests to know about other infections," said a veterinarian.

The mammal has been identified as an Indian Ocean Humpback (Sousa Plumbea), which is common to coastal areas and is included in the red list of threatened species of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).


Experts say that often the dolphins are caught in the large trawl nets of fishermen. But the fishermen do not reveal this to authorities as dolphins come under Scheduled 1 category.

"This dolphin that was found dead on Marine Drive measured 2.35m in length. The humpback dolphins can grow up to 2.5m long," said an expert.

"The cause of death is natural as we did not find plastic or any other harmful objects in its body. There were no injury marks on its body," said veterinarian involved in the post-mortem.