Years ago it would have been unheard of, but the comparatively warmer waters of the Algarve have now seen a ‘warm-water’ dolphin wash up on Meia Praia beach.
The striped Stenella coeruleoalba was “very physically debilitated”, Lagos ports captain reported to Diário de Notícias, and despite efforts by maritime police and biologists called to the scene, the two-metre long animal could not be saved.
Its body will now undergo a necropsy to determine the exact cause of death.
Striped dolphins are not normally found in these waters, being more adapted to tropical and sub-tropical ocean temperatures.
