Another Pilot Whale was washed up before on Shoreham beach, but over 10 years before this one. A pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins , Tursiops truncatus, were spotted by the Shoreham lifeboat crew from their boat while out on an exercise. All species of dolphins are rarely seen off Sussex and there were no reports from 1997. On 27 September 1998 approx 15 miles South of Hastings, East Sussex, we spotted a couple of Bottle-nosed Dolphins whilst out on a fishing trip. One came over to the boat when we started motoring and treated us to a 'bow wave' show for a good couple of minutes.
Cetacean sightings are infrequent off the Sussex coast.
They do not occur every year and dolphins have returned after an absence. The 2.7 metres long jaw is at the Booth Museum of Natural History , Brighton. A 5.8 metres long female Killer Whale , Orcinus orca , was washed up next to the Palace Pier, Brighton. The skeleton is on display at the Booth Museum of Natural History , Brighton.