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By Andrew Mach and Vignesh Ramachandran, Staff Writers, NBC News
An injured dolphin that became stranded in Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal died Friday, a marine foundation said.

The Riverhead Foundation confirmed to NBC News the dolphin passed away Friday evening. No other details about the mammal's death were immediately available. Read the full story.

Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters

A man reaches down to pat a dolphin as it struggles along a bulkhead in the headwaters of the Gowanus Canal as others look on.

Mike Segar / Reuters

A dolphin struggles to lift its head out of the water in the headwaters of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York.

Nick Ut / AP

A dolphin swims in wetlands at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, Calif., Monday, Aug. 30, 2012.

Nick Ut / AP

Spectators watch as a dolphin, dorsal fin visible at lower right, swims in wetlands at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, Calif., Monday, Aug. 30, 2012.

Msnbc.com reports: A lone dolphin that has spent the past five days swimming in the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Southern California may be the victim of bullying, NBCLosAngeles.com reported. The dolphin may have been prevented from leaving the Huntington Beach nature preserve by other dolphins, Peter Wallerstein, director of Marine Animal Rescue told the Register. This would be a rare occurrence, as dolphins are social creatures that typically travel in a pod.

“He was scared, he was intimidated, he was bullied,” Wallerstein told the Los Angeles Times. Dolphins "can be very aggressive toward each other. They’re not the sweet, loving, gentle animals portrayed by the movies and the cartoons. They do have a dark side.”

• More pictures in an earlier Photoblog post about this dolphin.

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Alex Gallardo / Reuters

The dorsal fin of a wayward dolphin pops up at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach, Calif. on Friday.

Damian Dovarganes / AP

Alex Gallardo / Reuters

A Huntington Beach State lifeguard floats on a paddle board to assess the condition of a wayward dolphin swimming in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.

Reuters reports: A dolphin who took a wrong turn from the Pacific Ocean into a Southern California wetlands became an unwitting star on Friday when scores of motorists on a nearby busy highway stopped to watch it swim in circles.

The 700-pound (317-kg) mammal was discovered on Friday morning in Bolsa Bay, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles in the Orange County community of Huntington Beach.

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Team members check the health of dolphins before transporting them for release back into open water.

David Friedman / msnbc.com

An IFAW team carries a stranded, live dolphin off the beach at Herring River in Wellfleet, Mass.

Celebrating a small battle won in a much larger war, Misty Niemeyer and Kathryn Rose shared a high-five after successfully releasing three dolphins back into open water Monday . The staffers with the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Marine Mammal Rescue and Research team, aided by other organizations and a small army of volunteers, have struggled to keep pace with a spate of dolphin strandings on Cape Cod over the last month.

David Friedman / msnbc.com

Misty Niemeyer and Kathryn Rose, celebrate successfully releasing three stranded dolphins back into open water on Monday, Feb. 13, in Bourne, Mass. Strandings are normal on Cape Cod in winter, but this year is the highest number on record, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

As of Tuesday, IFAW has cataloged 177 common dolphins strandings since Jan. 12 -- of those, 106 were found dead and 71 found alive. They attempt to rescue all live animals and get them back to open water, and at least tag the dead ones. It may be months before researchers understand why the numbers are so high this year, but right now the IFAW team is just trying to keeping up.

In the two days I spent photographing them for the video above, their phones rang dozens of times with people calling in dolphin sightings. Many were dead animals that had already been tagged, but whenever a call came in about a live dolphin they jumped into action. Niemeyer says of this winter's onslaught, "Our staff’s getting a little tired and little weary, and unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down at any point. We’ve had live animal strandings almost every day for the last week at least, and almost every day, or every other day, for the last month. So there really isn’t any sign of it slowing down yet."

Read more about the efforts of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Marine Mammal Rescue and Research team here.

David Friedman / msnbc.com

IFAW staff and volunteers prepare to release three rescued dolphins back into open water in Bourne, Mass., on Monday.

David McNew / Getty Images

A person inside an underwater viewing pod in the hull of a catamaran watches bottlenose dolphins off the southern California coast on Jan. 30, 2012 near Dana Point, Calif.

By msnbc.com staff and news services - The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, claims that the Navy's sonar use might be strong enough to kill the animals outright. But even if it doesn't, it claims, the repeated use of sonar in certain critical habitats is unwarranted.

The alliance said it wasn't seeking to stop the testing but to scale it back, especially at certain times and in waters important for feeding and giving birth.

Several studies have found that marine mammals can hear low-frequency sonar, which is magnified under water, and periodically dolphins and even whales have been found with perforated ear drums.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

A dead sea turtle is carried out of the surf by Donald Tillman April 14, in Waveland, Mississippi. Local turtle activists Donald and Shirley Tillman say they have discovered 19 dead sea turtles in Mississippi in the month of April alone and suspect they are dying due to the effects of the BP oil spill. Endangered sea turtles and dolphins are still dying in high numbers in Mississippi, which continues to be impacted by tar balls and weathered oil. There have been 67 reported sea turtle deaths through April 11. April 20th marks the one-year anniversary of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

The BP spill hasn't been the environmental nightmare many thought, but it's still a nightmare in terms of the impact on locals trying to recover.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

A dead sea turtle is painted red as marked for removal nearly a week after it was pulled out of the surf in Waveland.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Shirley Tillman looks on next to what she believes is oil mixed with dispersant in Waveland.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

A dying seagull is pulled away from the surf by Donald Tillman in Waveland.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Activist Shirley Tillman writes a message in the sand next to dead sea turtle after it was pulled from the surf in Waveland.

Asahi Shimbun / Reuters

Ryo Taira lifts a porpoise out of a flooded rice field after it was swept by a tsunami following an earthquake in Sendai, in this picture taken by Asahi Shimbun on March 22, 2011. Taira found the porpoise struggling in the shallow seawater on Tuesday and after failing to net it, waded in to the field, which had yet to be sown with rice, to cradle the 1.2-metre (four foot) animal in his arms. Picture taken March 22, 2011.

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