SANDY HOOK, N.J. (AP) -- Advanced decomposition may make it hard for scientists to determine whether a dead bottlenose dolphin found floating in the Shrewsbury River on Tuesday was part of a group whose presence there last year pitted would-be rescuers against federal wildlife authorities.
The 8 1/2-foot-long dolphin was retrieved from the river by workers rebuilding the Route 36 bridge between Sea Bright and Highlands.
But its dorsal fin, one of the most distinctive identifiers of individual dolphins, has decayed to a pulp.
On Thursday, scientists plan to remove some of the dolphin's teeth and take a muscle tissue sample to compare it with DNA samples from some of the 16 dolphins who showed up in the river in June.
``We hope to be able to confirm the species and perhaps whether this is part of the group from last summer,'' said Teri Frady, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has jurisdiction over the animals.
The dolphins were at the center of a tug-of-war between animal rescuers, who wanted them removed or coaxed out of the river and back out to sea, and federal wildlife officials, who decided to leave them alone unless they appeared to be in imminent danger.
In January, the pod had dwindled to five, and rescuers feared they would drown under the ice-covered river. Dolphins must surface to breathe air.
The owner and several employees of a Highlands seafood restaurant said they saw three to five of the mammals swim into Sandy Hook Bay on Jan. 15 before the Shrewsbury River froze over.
That led to speculation that the last of the dolphins might have safely made it out of the river and back out to sea.
If the dolphin found Tuesday is identified as one of the river pod, it would be the fourth from that group to have died.
Marine mammal rescue groups wanted the animals removed from the river before winter, fearing a repeat of 1993, when four dolphins drowned in the Shrewsbury when ice closed in on them.
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