MALOLOS CITY – A 250-kilogram rare female Risso’s dolphin (Grampus Griseus) was rescued by local fishermen but was later transported to Ocean Adventure Park in Subic Bay Freeport for rehabilitation.
Dr. Lemnuel Aragones, a consultant of the OAP and an associate professor of the University of the Philippines Institute of the Environmental Science and Meteorology, told The STAR in a telephone interview yesterday that the deep water mammal is undergoing intensive care.
“She is under quarantine and we isolated her in clean sea water because she was stressed when she was found in Bulacan river,” Aragones said.
He did not say if the Risso’s dolphin will survive but he said that they were able to force-feed the mammal.
In an earlier interview on Friday afternoon at the Panasahan Fishport here, Aragones said that a reason the deep water mammal was washed ashore could be that she was sick, or had lost her navigational route to avoid a predator, or while trying to catch a small fish.
He also ruled out the possibility that it went ashore due to dynamite fishing until they were able to conduct autopsy on it if ever the dolphin dies.
According to Ronaldo Bernardino of the Provincial Agriculture Office Fisheries division, the said mammal is usually found in deep waters like the China Sea.
He said that the dolphin weighs at least 250 kilograms and is easily recognized due to extensive linear scars on its body.
It has a squarish head in profile, no beak but with cleft melon, and have a tall,erect dorsal fin.
Bernardino said that Risso’s dolphin is sometimes misidentified as a pygmy killer whale or young false killer whale.
This species, based on preliminary data and depending on the area may be rare, to common in the Philippines.
Bernardino told The STAR that a fisherman identified as Raymond Cabigao of Barangay Pamarawan here found the dolphin trapped in between mangrove roots along the Matilakin river in the nearby Bulacan town on Friday morning.
Cabigao transported the dolphin to Panasahan Fihsport here where concerned citizens alerted barangay and city officials who called the local fisheries official and the OAP.