Another stranded dolphin, not a whale, reported off Atlantic City

🐋A dolphin, not a whale, was found early Monday morning on a Jersey Shore beach

🐋5 dolphins & a porpoise have been found stranded on New Jersey beaches in 2024

🐋10 whales have stranded themselves off the East Coast in 2024

NOTE: This report has been updated to show it was a dolphin and not a whale found stranded on a New Jersey beach.

ATLANTIC CITY — It was another dolphin and not a whale that was found stranded on a New Jersey beach Monday morning.

Former Margate Mayor Vaughan Reale told WPG host Harry Hurley about a whale on the beach across from the Tropicana Casino.

City spokesman Andrew Kramer confirmed that public works were notified at daybreak about the find. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center was also notified and is responding, according to Kramer.

Marine Mammal Stranding Center director Sheila Dean told New Jersey 101.5 it was a common dolphin and not a pilot whale, as had been speculated.

"They don't look alike at all," Dean said. "Pilot whales are black. They have big, bulbous heads. They have really large dorsal fins. They're totally different animals."

Five dolphins and a porpoise have been found stranded on New Jersey beaches in 2024, according to the MMSC.

A whale has yet to be found stranded on a New Jersey beach this year. 17 whales were found stranded on New Jersey beaches from December 2022 through 2023, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

Two humpback whales were found on Atlantic City beaches on Dec. 23, 2022, and Jan. 2, 2023. A necropsy determined both had been struck by vessels.

ALSO READ: 5th dolphin of 2024 strands on NJ beach

Nearly a dozen stranded whales on the east coast

At least ten whales have been found stranded off the east coast in 2024.

Two humpback whales were found dead off the coast of Georgia and on a Maryland beach in 2023, according to NOAA Fisheries. The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center's Stranding Response Team told WVEC TV two juvenile humpback whales were found on March 3 and 4.

A North Atlantic right whale calf, which is considered an endangered species, was found dead off the Georgia coast on March 3 after being struck by a ship, according to the NOAA.  There are less than 360 of the species left.

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Four whales stranded in one week

A sperm whale beached itself on a Venice, Florida beach Sunday, according to Venice police.

Four whales washed up on the outer banks of North Carolina in the past week, the OBX Marine Mammal Stranding Network told the Virginian-Pilot.

The gray whale, a species that has been seen in the Atlantic Ocean for over 200 years, was spotted 30 miles off the coast of Nantucket by a survey team, according to the New England Aquarium.

They are common in the North Pacific Ocean and are distinguished by their lack of dorsal fin, mottled grey and white skin and dorsal hump followed by pronounced ridges.

(Includes material Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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