2012 Peru dolphin die off

2011, January 8. Pacific. Airburst. Time: 19:38. (33.3, -125.8). e = 2.9, -e = 0.1. Altitude: 48km.

2011, February 12. Pacific. Airburst. Time: 11:00. (7.8, -95.3). e = 2, -e = 0.073.

2011, March 23. Pacific. Airburst. Time: 04:16. (-16.8, -85.6). e = 2.2, -e = 0.079.

2011, March 24. Pacific. Airburst. Time: 20:23. (0.6, -127.5) e = 5.8, -e = 0.19. Altitude: 59km.

2011, April 27. Pacific. Airburst. Time: 20:38. (1.4, -126.6). e = 22, -e = 0.61. Altitude: 28.7 km.

2011, August 4. Pacific. Airburst. Time: 07:25. (-40.7, -86.7). e = 2.8, -e = 0.098. Altitude: 63.

2011, October 12. Pacific. Airburst. Time: 07:13. (-26.4, -78.4). e = 3.6, -e = 0.12.

2012, January to April. Peru. Initially, 615 dead dolphins along a 135-kilometre coastline were discovered then 900 were cleared away. The death toll could be as high as 2,800, based on volunteer counts. Peru's massive dolphin die-off was among the largest ever reported worldwide. All of the 20 or so animals examined showed middle-ear hemorrhage and fracture of the ear's periotic bone, lung lesions and bubbles in the blood. A few dolphins at first were discovered every 150 meters, then every 10 or 20 meters. The first account of 24 dead dolphins came on Jan. 21 in Piura on the north coast, just south of the border with Ecuador, the same region where the 1,500 were reported by marine coastal reserve staff on March 10. Another 416 were counted in Piura on March 21. More than 870 were spotted in February and March on beaches in the Lambayeque region, south of Piura. Two species were stranded. About 90 percent are long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis), which swim close to the surface and had probably migrated south from Central America to feast on the abundance of fish in the nutrient-rich Humboldt Current that sweeps Peru’s coast. The rest are Burmeister’s porpoises (Phocoena spinipinnis), a deepwater species that moves closer to the surface to calve. All the Burmeister’s porpoises were recorded being pregnant or lactating females or calves. Also, since March some 4,000 birds, mostly pelicans and boobies died.

Fireballs (nasa.gov)