Branford — Three Branford residents hauled a rare find to shore this morning — a large dolphin carcass, about 8 feet in length and an estimated 400 pounds, found in the Thimble Islands.

Residents Kenny Wynne, Alex King and Spencer Rentas brought the big mammal to shore in Pine Orchard at about 10 a.m. Thursday and notified the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and Mystic Aquarium. The carcass was found washed against rocks at Governor’s Island, said King.

“I was working on a couple of boats for my job and Kenny came flying over to me on his Jet Ski and said, ‘You’re never going to believe what I just saw,’” said King. “He took me out to Governor’s Island and there was this massive thing. It looked like a canoe turned over on its back.”

The two took some quick photos of the dolphin as they’d found it and then set about trying to bring it to shore so it could be examined by experts.

“We wanted to know why it was out here in the first place, and why it died,” said King. “We’ve heard there’s been dying bunker in the area, so maybe it ate some and got sick, or it could just be it died of old age.”

King works at the Pine Orchard Yacht & Country Club in Branford and grew up on Long Island Sound working with his father, local lobsterman D.J. King.

“I just want to know why they’re down here,” said King. “In my 19 years of existence, I haven’t seen anything like this.”

Wynne and King tied a line around the dolphin’s tail fin, but found the carcass was too heavy to be hauled off the rocks by the Jet Ski. They returned to the yacht club to seek assistance from Rentas, the club’s harbor master. An outboard engine with more horsepower, manned by Rentas, was able to power the carcass off the rocks and bring it to shore in Pine Orchard.

DEEP officers Stephen Stanko and Todd Chemacki responded to the initial report and were the first officials to arrive at the scene.

“We observed the animal and took some measurements,” said Stanko while awaiting Mystic Aquarium experts also called to the scene. “It didn’t look like it was molested, no gunshot wounds, no prop damage that I could ascertain. It looks like a mature animal to me. I’m not a biologist by any means, so I don’t know the cause. It could be old age; it could be anything. Hopefully Mystic can do some kind of necropsy and ascertain the particulars.”

Officer Stanko said the DEEP receives calls on unusual sightings in Long Island Sound, including recently hearing word of a Beluga whale spotted near the Race.

The state DEEP responded earlier this week to a call concerning a “large fish” spotted in the Thimbles, said Stanko, although there’s no way of knowing whether that call was about this dolphin instead.

Chemacki said to find this type animal in the area was “very unusual.” He said the expectation was to have Mystic Aquarium provide some more answers. By all appearances, the cetacean appeared to be a bottlenose dolphin, one of the most recognizable types of dolphins.

“They’re going to ascertain what type of dolphin it is and respond accordingly,” said Chemacki.

Wynne confirmed for the DEEP that the dolphin had no physical damage apparent when it was found. The dolphin’s loss of outer skin in many places was likely caused as the carcass washed against rocky outcroppings like those in the area where it was located.