Rare dolphin found dead swallowed 5 fish hooks

Written by:
Hans Kruit, 20 October 2013

A rare dolphin found dead on a remote Hawaii beach earlier this month swallowed five fish hooks, but they apparently didn't cause its death.

A necropsy of the dolphin — called a false killer whale — showed the hooks were floating in its stomach along with the partially digested remains of a large marlin, some tuna and several types of squid.

The hooks weren't embedded in the stomach lining and there's no evidence they caused the dolphin's death, Kristi West, the Hawaii Pacific University professor who led the necropsy, said Thursday.

Scientists are still trying to determine why the false killer whale died.

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