After having never seen a common dolphin stranded on Virginia shores, Susan Barco has now seen seven of the animals euthanized in a three-day period after finding their way into too-shallow water.

Three common dolphins were spotted struggling on the beach near Back Bay Wildlife Refuge on Sunday, and four were seen in the mud flats of a bay-side Eastern Shore creek on Wednesday. Despite the efforts of the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team, all seven had to be put down, said Barco, senior scientist and stranding coordinator for the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center.

About three weeks ago, three more common dolphins made their way all the way up the Nansemond River into downtown Suffolk, Barco said. The appearance of common dolphins that far inland, and in the Chesapeake Bay, marks a rare occurrence. These are not the bottlenose dolphins often spotted just offshore in Virginia Beach and up the rivers and creeks around Hampton Roads.

In fact, Barco said she knows of no other reported mass strandings of common dolphins in Virginia. The species typically swims closer to the continental shelf, which starts about three miles offshore, and beyond, Barco said.

Including the stranding of two pygmy whales late last year, the two incidents this week mark an odd run of strandings in Virginia.

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