Carcasses of baby finless porpoise, dolphin wash ashore Mumbai beach

Mumbai city news: Experts claim sea pollution might have killed the marine mammals

Untreated toxic effluents released from Palghar industrial units into the Arabian Sea might have claimed a baby finless porpoise and a dolphin, whose carcasses washed ashore at Shirgaon on Saturday night, said experts.

Carcass of the baby finless porpoise (Bhushan Bhoir)

Zoologist Bhushan Bhoir, 27, said that a 86-cm-long finless porpoise and 2.20-metre-long dolphin, could have been the victims of chemical pollution. He added that marine mammals move into warm water zones to give births, as the babies cannot tolerate cold water.

“After giving birth, the mother must have left the baby in the warm water. But the heavy industrial chemicals took their toll on the poor animal. Marine mammals such as dolphins and porpoises surface to breathe. This is the time when untreated toxic chemicals enters their system, eventually killing them,” said Bhoir.

The dolphin carcass. Both the carcasses were buried at Shirgaon beach in the presence of forest officials from Palghar.

The zoologist added that unlike local marine animals, who have developed resistance to pollutants, porpoise are migratory mammals and take a while to acclimatise to their new surroundings. “Another reason for their deaths could be diseases these mammals might have contracted during their journey,” Bhoir said.

“We added layers of lime and buried the carcasses so that they decompose faster without posing a threat to the environment,” Bhoir said.