A baby dolphin was found stranded on the shore in Surfside Beach Monday.

The dolphin was found at 11:53 a.m. near the dune line at 16th Avenue South, said Lt. Rodney Keziah with Surfside Beach police.

Keziah said the dolphin was turned over to the Charleston branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association after calling the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

Wayne McFee with NOAA said the cause of the dolphin’s death was not obvious. It was a newborn bottlenose dolphin that was 101 centimeters long which is a little more than 3 feet, McFee said.

In South Carolina about 50 dolphins are found stranded on the shore annually, he said. Various samples were collected for testing during a necropsy performed in Surfside Beach.

McFee said the death was not likely related to hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the water, but the cause is not known right now.

“We want to know why neonates die,” he said. “Is it something wrong with the mom or was the animal abandoned for some reason or was it prematurely born? We want to know why.”

Contact AMANDA KELLEY at 626-0381.