OLYMPIA – One or two long-beaked common dolphins have been cruising the marine waters near Olympia since early June, the first sighting of this species in Puget Sound, a marine mammal scientist said Monday.
In the eastern Pacific Ocean, this warm water species typically is found about 50 miles off the coast from Baja California to central California, noted Annie Douglas, a biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, a marine mammal research group.
“These sightings are very unusual — this species of dolphin has never been recorded within the Puget Sound,” she said.
Waterfront residents, beachgoers and boaters have reported one or two dolphins swimming, feeding and approaching boats along a stretch of shoreline from Boston Harbor to Thurston County’s Burfoot Park for the past three weeks, she said.
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