ARCHIVED - Dead dolphin recovered from the sea off the coast of Elche

The lifeless cetacean was spotted floating two nautical miles from the beach in the Baix Vinalopo, Alicante province

The Guardia Civil's maritime service have recovered the body of a dead dolphin discovered floating off the coast between the beaches of La Marina-Elche.

At around 1pm on Saturday, August 14, the rescue service recieved a report of a lifeless cetacean on the surface of the water about two nautical miles out to sea.

A rescue patrol boat sailed to the area and the dolphin's carcass was towed to Santa Pola port in Alicante and then taken for incineration by a specialised disposal team, as it was "impossible to transfer the creature to the University of Valencia (UV) for study".

Unfortunately, this means that the cause of the two-metre animal will not be able to be confirmed, though sources believe the dolphin died recently because the corpse was "quite well preserved".

Sightings of bottlenose and dolphins increase each year along the Alicante coastline, but sightings of sharks are not so common.

Sadly, a blue shark which was sighted in three coastal municipalities in Alicante over the last fortnight, was found dead near Cala Mig in El Campello at the weekend.

IMAGE: Guardia Civil