- The encounter with the unique mammal took place in July in the Gulf of Corinth
Stunning images have emerged of a dolphin with a pair of hooked 'thumbs' protruding from its fins that have fascinated and amazed researchers in equal measure.
The rare encounter took place in July, when researchers from the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute came across a striped dolphin with the strange deformities in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece.
Alexandros Frantzis, the Institute's scientific coordinator and president, took the photos of the creature's unique morphology.
Speaking to LiveScience, Frantzis said that in the thirty years of conducting surveys and monitoring stranded dolphins in Greece, this was the first time such an anomaly had been observed in the open sea.
Stunning images have emerged of a dolphin with a pair of hooked 'thumbs' sticking out of its fins
The peculiar flipper can be attributed to rare and irregular genes resulting from continuous interbreeding within the isolated population
Despite the unusual appearance of its flippers, the dolphin apparently had no problems integrating with its pod and displayed typical behaviors such as swimming, jumping and playing with fellow dolphins.
This led Frantzis to speculate that the strange deformity could not be a sign of illness or malaise.
Instead, he said the peculiar flipper could be attributed to rare and irregular genes resulting from continued interbreeding within the isolated population of about 1,300 striped dolphins in the Gulf of Corinth.
Experts backed his theory, suggesting the defect is a result of an altered genetic program during the dolphin's development as a calf, as the quirk appeared to affect both flippers.