A baby Hector's dolphin has washed up dead at Purakaunui Inlet.
Its body was discovered by Loren Palmer (13) on the beach on Saturday evening and community member Jude Newton rang the Department of Conservation after searching the internet to find out what species it was.
"We felt it was important to ring them as they [the dolphins] are quite endangered."
Hector's dolphins are found only in New Zealand waters and there are fewer than 8000 left.
Doc biodiversity assets programme manager David Agnew and University of Otago marine scientist Steve Dawson found it was a female under six weeks old.
"It's not that often that a dead Hector's dolphin ends up on our coast," Mr Agnew said.
They found nothing obviously wrong with the dolphin.
The pair took measurements, samples and photographs before sending the dolphin's body by refrigerated truck to Massey University's wildlife centre for a necropsy, he said.
Mr Agnew praised the Purakaunui residents for ringing Doc as it meant something could be learned from the death.
