'Ocean monster' washes up on beach and turns out to be real life 'mummy'

17 February 2024 , 07:28

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A 'mummified' dolphin that washed up on a South Carolina beach (Image: lowcountrymarinemammalnetwork/Facebook)

A 'mummified' dolphin that washed up on a South Carolina beach has been dubbed an "ocean monster" by terrified members of the public.

Marine experts were called out to reports of a stranded dolphin on Hilton Head Island last month. When they arrived, they were greeted by the horrific site of a seriously decomposed mammal.

Its characteristic grey colour had almost entirely been replaced by a white film, and you could even make out the bones on the carcass. The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network (LMMN) said the dolphin had likely spent too much time in the sun, and was eventually washed up to sea.

It was actually the second time it was called out in one weekend, after a decomposed dolphin appeared 18 miles away. LMMN said on its Facebook page: "This weekend our team responded to two dolphin strandings! The first was reported the evening of Thursday (1/11/2024) on Botany Bay and due to storms and location challenges, we were not able to respond until Saturday 1/13/24.

"To access the animal, the team headed to Botany Bay on Edisto Island, and treaded in waders during low tide to access a moderately scavenged bottlenose dolphin. Due to decomposition and scavenging, few samples were collected.

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"The following day (Sunday 1/14/24), our team received a call from Hilton Head. Our amazing partner, Amber Kuehn, responded to this mummified dolphin and also due to the state of the animal, few samples were collected. The animal was buried on site. Although both animals did not provide many samples, we still collect location, species, gender, age/size and skin which contributes to our baseline data."

One confused Facebook user responded asking how a dolphin could possibly ended up mummified. LNNM said: "Our guess is it was sitting in the sun somewhere remote, dried the skin, and then the animal got washed out and moved to the location where it was found." The marine experts posted a picture of the dolphin, too, and one member of the public described it as a terrifying "ocean monster".

It was later revealed that the dolphin was most likely a common bottlenose, and was about eight-foot long in total. One of the experts told LiveScience: "It wasn't actually mummified. It was simply decomposed."But, there was an unusually large amount of decomposition, hence the unusual colour.

Matt Atherton