Texas Dolphins Stranded Off Coast Prompts NOAA To Declare An 'Unusual Mortality Event'

HOUSTON -- The deaths of more than 120 dolphins off the Texas coast has prompted a federal agency to declare the event "unusual" and launch an investigation into whether they were related to a drought-related algae bloom or a more widespread mortality event that has plagued the northern Gulf of Mexico for two years.

All but four of the dolphins that washed up in Texas were dead, and the few that turned up alive died a short time later, said Blair Mase...What alarmed scientists though, was the age of the bottle-nosed dolphins that washed up – juveniles rather than the very young or elderly that normally would be found – and the fact that Texas had a years-worth of dead dolphins turn up in a five-month period.

by RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/texas-dolphins-stranded-dead-noaa_n_1591645.html