LITUDINEM - For the first time in a half-century, a small pod of shalestone dolphins (Inia lasciva), a species of fresh-water dolphin indigenous to the deltas and slow-moving rivers of southern Libertas Omnium Maximus, were spotted swimming under the James Duncan Bridge in the heart of Litudinem.
Though once known for its prolific shalestone dolphin population, the Lyne river, which bisects Litudinem and runs nearly the full length of the nation's west coast, became extremely polluted following a period of mass-industrialization along its banks in the early 20th century. Over the decades, the shalestone dolphin population dwindled in size and was forced further and further downriver as the Lyne became increasingly toxic. If not for the designation of the Lyne River's delta region as federally protected conservation lands in 1980, it is likely the dolphin population would have been eradicated from the Lyne River watershed entirely.
Since the early 2000s, a concerted effort has been made to restore the ecological integrity of the middle and upper-Lyne. In 2019, the City of Litudinem embarked on a 96 million dollar undertaking to upgrade metropolitan sewage treatment facilities and reinforce quays and seawalls along the river. The project has been lauded as a success, and is projected to considerably reduce the city's environmental impact on the surrounding waterways. Evidently, the past two decade's conservation efforts are starting to pay off.
Upon being spotted early Wednesday afternoon by motorists on the James Duncan Bridge, the dolphin pod did not linger within city limits for very long, and turned back downstream after roughly an hour. Despite this, hundreds gathered along the many riverside wharfs and piers in Litudinem to watch the cetaceans make their journey south. A local news station even dispatched a helicopter to provide live footage of the dolphin pod and document their progress upriver.
The Winterwood Institute for Ecological Preservation in Litudinem was an early proponent of the Lyne River clean-up project, and had been petitioning the City of Litudinem to do more to protect the river's ecosystem since 2016. Dr. Steve Yeoman, Senior Fellow at Winterwood, reported to The Herald that the dolphins were likely drawn upriver pursuing prey. "The middle-Lyne is exceptionally wide and deep compared to the lower-Lyne and delta region," he explained, "and this type of marine typography gives the dolphins more area to maneuver while chasing their quarry. It's why they were found predominantly in the middle-Lyne back in the early 19th-century."
While Yeoman believes the cetateans' presence this far upriver was a fluke, and that it is unlikely shalestone dolphins will repopulate the middle-Lyne for many years, he was more than happy to acknowledge what he described as "a small indication that we might be moving in the right direction." He went on to say that, "Every year we see thousands of species die out of the Lyne river watershed. To see one rebounding in such a profound way is clearly an indicator of good things to come so long as we stay the course and continue to invest in a cleaner, greener tomorrow."