Dolphins Spotted Swimming Near St Mark’s Square in Venice

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DOLPHINS spotted swimming near St Mark’s Square in Venice in “exceptional” sighting.

In what has been labelled by an exceptional sighting by the coastguard, two dolphins were spotted swimming through the Venice canals only yards from St Mark’s Square on Monday. It is believed that the bottlenose dolphins spotted are a mother and a young juvenile that were hunting for cuttlefish near the Punta della Dogana.

The dolphins were quickly protected by specialists and local police who carefully spent several hours ushering the dolphins back out to sea. They believe that the dolphins became disorientated while searching for food.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic there is a distinct lack of tourist cruise ships in the area and it is thought that this drew the animals into Venice’s canals, to search for food.

Luca Bizzan, head of Venice’s Natural History Museum, speaking to The Times explained that, “This is very unusual – they were clearly encouraged to venture this far into the city by the calm waters in Venice right now.

“They were probably drawn to the city by the number of cuttle fish – a lot this year – that enter the lagoon at this time to lay eggs.”

A University of Padua expert, Sandro Mazzariol explained that this is the first time that a mother and juvenile have been spotted near Saint Mark’s Square.


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Alex
Written by

Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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