• Home
  • Posts
  • Porpoise Washes Ashore at Tod’s; Cause of Death Unknown

Porpoise Washes Ashore at Tod’s; Cause of Death Unknown

_dsc5190
A washed up porpoise on the shore of Tod's Point (Credit: Jerry Howland)
A washed up porpoise on the shore of Tod’s Point (Credit: Jerry Howland)

 

At sunset on Sunday, Jan. 10, a pair of Greenwich residents noticed an animal, later identified as a porpoise, washed up on the beach at Tods Point.

Members of the Greenwich Police Departments Marine Division were on the scene as well as officials from the Mystic Aquarium to remove the carcass.

According to the GPD Marine division, the beached porpoise was dead when they arrived.

It was already on the shore when we came over there on our boat, a GPD Marine officer said. Patrol had actually been able to get to it. They tied a line to it and got it up the shore until the aquarium people could get to it. We went on the vessel just in case it was offshore and we could be of assistance, but it was already on shore and deceased by the time we got there.

We sent a responder of ours down to the area to take a look at the porpoise, Janelle Schuh of the Mystic Aquarium said. We removed the carcass and brought it back to the aquarium for a necropsy.

A washed up porpoise on the shore of Tod's Point (Credit: Jerry Howland)
A washed up porpoise on the shore of Tod’s Point (Credit: Jerry Howland)

 The cause of death was not immediately known, but the Mystic Aquarium collected tissue samples to send to a pathologist to determine how the porpoise died.

It was a common dolphin we saw, and ironically its the most common dolphin species for us to see in our area, Schuh said. This is absolutely the time of year that we will see them. Usually, they start showing up more frequently in the fall months and then it can definitely go this late into the winter season. Its by and far not an unusual thing for us to see for this particular species.

A Greenwich resident said she was taking her daughter to the water to photograph a scenic sunset when another local resident started showing her photos of the porpoise he had just taken.

We stayed at the Point longer than we were supposed to be there, She said. When we arrived at the scene, the police had just gotten there.

She was not permitted to approach the scene to photograph the porpoise, but she took several shots from a distance.

A local photographer, Jerry Howland, was able to take photos of the beached porpoise just before the police arrived and before sunset.

Pods of dolphins have been seen at Tods Point as recently as last summer, and the Greenwich resident says that she has noticed an abundance of active marine life during her recent walks around Greenwich.

I walk by the Mianus River, where the dam is,  She said. Ive been taking pictures of the thousands of bunker fish that are in there. I asked my nephew, who is a fisherman and owns a fish store in Cos Cob, why there are so many bunker, and they say nobody has any idea. Its been the weirdest fall and winter ever because they arent supposed to be here.

Bunker fish often form schools of thousands and are ideal prey for certain marine life, including dolphins and porpoises.

A beached whale, dolphin or porpoise should be reported immediately to Norwalk Aquarium or Mystic Aquarium. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is illegal to touch, feed, disturb or harass marine mammals without proper authorization.

 

 

Related Posts
Loading...