(MW / 13-12-10)  Bottlenose dolphin “Gaspar”, very famous in the Galician coasts since he appeared three years ago in Ribeira, is missing, since the Grupo de Rescate y Estudio de Mamíferos Marinos (Gremmar) and the Coordinadora para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Marinos have lost his trace and do not have registers of him since last summer.

Antonio Rodríguez, Gremmar spokesman, said to EFE that the last time they contact with the animal was in Laxe, in the Costa da Mora, on April, 13, and they have not registered any sighting in Galicia or the British coastline, from where he came three years ago, or in Portugal.

The Coordinadora para el Estudio de los Mamíferos Marinos (CEMMA) –which has a blog- has also followed Gaspar’s movements very closely, and they identified him last time in the first week in August, in the cove of the port Salvora and later in Sanxenxo.

In the blog they describe the last possible sighting of “Gaspar” in mid August.  A sailor working near the Lobeiras islands informed of a dolphin with the characteristics of “Gaspar”, which was on the surface and let the current move him being static. He informed and the collaborators of CEMMA went there, but they did not found any trace of the dolphin.

NOT HAVING SEEN HIM FOR SO LONG IS VERY WEIRD

Which is clear is that, according to the participants in the research, “it is weird” that so famous animal, as “he was always playing” has not be seen by anyone if he was in the area of location. As CEMMA, the Gremmar has an observation network, where Maritime Salvage, local and regional polices, Guardia Civil del Mar and marinas collaborate.

One of the hypothesis the specialist are thinking of is that the animal, which was over 3 m long and weighted about 400 kg, has died, despite the fact that, after analysing his teeth, “Gaspar was about 28 years old, and the life expectancy of bottlenose dolphins is about 30 and 35 years.

This makes Gremmar think that "Gaspar", also known as "Jean Floch" in France, may have suffered an accident or maybe he has been killed. The truth is that not everybody liked him. He causes some damages to gears and fishing boats, and sometimes he frightened people with his games. (Read more about the published in MW about “Gaspar” here).

“Gaspar” followers are fear the worst. They have past many months without having seen him and that is a bad omen. This is what the thousands followers of the dolphin feel. He got the peak of popularity two summers ago and hundreds of people followed him in the coasts of Rías Baixas and north Portugal.