Support OneGreenPlanet Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high quality content. Please support us! Support Us We’re learning more about a skin disease that is harming dolphins, according to scientists at The Marine Mammal Center in California. A new study uncovers the link between the disease first discovered in 2005 and climate change. Because of decreased water salinity, dolphins develop patchy and raised skin lesions that can grow on 70% of their body. The change in salinity is caused by climate change. Published in Scientific Reports, the study is the first case definition for fresh-water skin disease in bottlenose dolphins.