The dolphin was spotted by local residents on Monday
© GUSTAVO ARMIJOThe dolphin was spotted by local residents on Monday
It is the eighth such animal that has appeared on the Costa del Sol's beaches since December

A dead dolphin has been taken to the Aula del Mar in Malaga after washing up on Nerja's La Torrecilla beach on Monday. Local residents alerted Civil Protection officers, who in turn contacted the Endangered Marine Species Recovery Centre (Cream) of the Aula del Mar.

Biologist José Luis Mons, one of the founders of the Aula del Mar, explained to SUR on Tuesday that pending the results of the necropsy, the animal may have been pregnant but he could not specify the exact cause of death. "Adult specimens can live between 12 and 15 years, and this one would have been around seven years old," the expert added.

Mons has counted at least eight dead dolphins found on the Costa del Sol's beaches since December: one in Estepona, four in Malaga city, two more in Torremolinos and Marbella respectively and the most recent one in Nerja.

"It is quite a high number, we have had a busy start to the year, but there is no single common cause, some die of old age, others may have infections, they may have been hit by boats because they are injured or sick. They may have got caught in fishing nets and the storms of the last few weeks may also have caused them a lot of harm," said the biologist.