Detectives are roaming Texas beaches this week trying to find out if something out of the ordinary is killing dolphins.

The latest discoveries were made at  Sergeant Beach in Matagorda County.

Heidi Watts and Errol Ronje made four more troubling discoveries on their drive along the beach.

They're with the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

They also spotted four dead bottlenose dolphins.

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That’s a small number considering the vast expanse of Texas beaches, but that’s not the total for the last three days.

“The total now would be 27,” said Watts.

Twenty seven dolphins, young and old, from Matagorda to Jefferson County.

“To have that many concentrated in those two to three days is a pretty high number,” said Watts.

So 11 News traveled with them as they searched for more.

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And as they searched for clues of their own in the tissue samples and teeth of the dead dolphins.

“If they continue to keep coming in like they have the last three days, a lot of them in one concentrated area then we will start looking,” said Watts.

It’s not unusual to have dolphins wash ashore on these beaches this time every year. But it did reach unusual and troubling numbers last year. So there is concern that we might be headed for some troubling numbers again.

In fact, last year 78 dolphins turned up dead in just a two week spread.

Tests on those animals were either inconclusive or showed nothing out of the ordinary.

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So for now, Heidi Watts isn’t ready to worry. “…not yet and hopefully we won’t get there.”

If you find a marine mammal, alive or dead, on Texas beaches contact the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 1 (800) 9-MAMMAL.

Even if the animal is dead, biologists may be able to recover enough information to help them determine the cause of death.