 Jamesville resident Guy Cox was looking for
his hunting dogs near Devil's Gut Saturday, Dec. 8, when he ran across
some other hunters with what sounded like a pretty tall tale.
Two boats carrying three men were about 9
miles upriver from Jamesville when one of the men spotted a large
"fish", about 7 to 9 feet long. Calling to the others, the
three witnessed what appeared to be a porpoise gracefully swimming around
in the Roanoke--about 25 miles from the mouth of Albemarle Sound!
Then they spotted two others! The
sighting took place about 8 a.m. Saturday morning.
Later that day, Cox ran across his
brother-in-law Andy Summerlin, and his two brothers, Mark & Tom, who
had also been hunting upriver from Jamesville.
"I asked Andy if they'd seen anything,
and he said they'd seen 3 deer, 2 eagles and something else, but he
wouldn't say what because he thought I wouldn't believe him," Cox
said. "You saw a porpoise, didn't you!" Surprised
(for the second time that day), Andy confirmed his brother-in-law's guess.
Actually, the Summerlin brothers had seen three of the creatures near the mouth of Cut Cypress
about 3 p.m. The speculation is that the group probably was chasing shad
up the river.
Cox reported the sighting to Pete Kornegay,
fisheries biologist with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. Kornegay
explains how such an occurrence is possible:
"The Roanoke River watershed basin is
almost in a drought of record, creating conditions that allow salt water
intrusion into the lower Roanoke," said Kornegay. He says that
what the hunters most likely saw were Atlantic bottlenose
dolphin. Throughout the summer, black sea bass, Spanish
mackerel and tarpon were reported in the Albemarle Sound. And even
stranger creatures have been spotted in some of the creeks of the Roanoke.
The drought is affecting more than
wildlife. Read more about the situation at
www.rrba.org
Dolphin were also sighted
and photographed from a boat off the Weyerhaeuser facility near Plymouth,
N.C. Click the photos below to enlarge.
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