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We report an unusual snaring of the larynx in an adult, female common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The dolphin was observed swimming and diving in Haifa Port, Israel, but was found dead the next day, 60 km south, on the coast. Postmortem examination revealed stranded-cordage, nylon filaments wrapped around the larynx, cutting through the soft tissue, and extending down into the forestomach, where a large mass of netting was found. The cachectic state of the dolphin and the subacute to chronic, hyper-plastic response of soft tissue surrounding the filaments lodged around the larynx, suggest a prolonged period of starvation, which led to the final weakness and wasting of the dolphin.

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1. During the last decade, the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) has become the second most sighted species in Israeli coastal waters, after the common bottlenose dolphin. Documentation mostly relies on opportunistic, photo and/or videobacked second-party reports, delimited within a 10 km near-shore strip.

No abstract