Marine Connection has received news that the body of a bottlenose dolphin, believed New Zealand's famous Moko, has washed up on a beach on the east coast of the North Island. A photograph of the dolphin, found on Matakana beach appears to be Moko as it's the same size, species and same number of teeth missing.

Moko was found to have lost eight teeth during an examination earlier this year, possibly from playing with anchor or mooring chains or ropes. There had been concerns for the safety of Moko when he was not sighted for several weeks which was very unusual for him as he had become a familiar sight in the area. He was known for pushing surfers out to sea, leaving one woman stranded on a sea buoy when he stole her surfboard and overturning kayakers and water skiers.

Marine Connection director comments "Although a friendly interactive dolphin, Moko was still wild and his death could have been caused by any number of factors. Sadly many dolphins which interact with humans appear to meet this fate. Moko must be the only dolphin in the world who had more than five hundred friends on Facebook, and no doubt will be very much missed.

Fortunately when Moko was in the Whakatane area a DNA sample was taken and this could be useful in determining if the dead dolphin is really Moko. The dolphin's carcass has been sent to Massey University for an autopsy to confirm what may have caused its death and whether it was Moko. Findings from the autopsy are expected shortly.

There have been several famous friendly dolphins around New Zealand including Pelorus Jack, a Risso's dolphin who accompanied ships travelling between Wellington and Nelson in 1888. He was the first dolphin in the world to be protected by law after someone fired at him from a steamer, an Order in Council was drawn up in 1904, declaring him protected. There was also Opo who loved to play with children in the summer of 1955-56 at Opononi and was also quickly declared protected.