Three common dolphins made an appearance in the Edgartown harbor Monday, delighting onlookers and creating a buzz about the species of the mammalian visitors.
Scott Kraus, the vice president of research at New England Aquarium and a longtime whale researcher, positively identified them as common dolphins.
A dead dolphin spotted Saturday on the shore of Cape Pogue Pond is not one of the two dolphins that were observed Wednesday and Thursday swimming inshore near the Dike Bridge, a New England Aquarium official said.
Two common dolphins were observed in the inner coastal waters of Chappaquiddick this week. The pair were observed swimming close to shore in an area known as the narrows, near the opening to Cape Pogue, north of the Dike Bridge.
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, writer Douglas Adams makes this observation, “Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much . . . the wheel, New York, wars and so on . . . while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man...for precisely the same reason.”
I do not profess to be an expert on the subject of Vineyard waters; however, I have spent many hours through more decades than I would like to admit in pursuit of its many bounties. I’d like to share what is, in my life, an unusual event.
Earlier this summer, while on a trip with my son, we encountered a pod of common dolphins between Noman’s and Gay Head. Unfortunately I had only my point-and-shoot camera to record the event.
An Atlantic common dolphin washed up on Lucy Vincent Beach Monday. Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium, said the recently-deceased mammal showed no signs of external injuries. He estimated the dolphin measured 7 feet, 4 inches and weighed 250 pounds. The local marine mammal stranding team and New England Aquarium were notified of the incident. Following the advice of an expert, the animal was buried on the beach. The dolphin was not among a group recently stranded off the outer Cape and later released, Mr. LaCasse said.
Two dead marine mammals were discovered on Lobsterville Beach over the past weekend. A dead Atlantic dolphin measuring 91 inches was found along with a 94-inch long gray seal, according to Bret Stearns, director of natural resources at the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Mr. Stearns said they investigated the sighting on Monday and concluded that the dolphin had died recently. The New England Aquarium was notified and no further action was taken.
