HUNTINGTON BEACH – Two dolphin lingered in a shallow cove in the Bolsa Chica wetlands for at least four hours Friday before heading out to Huntington Harbour and toward the Pacific Ocean.

A rescue team from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach arrived to see if the animals needed help after receiving calls around 8 a.m. The dolphin did not appear to be injured and had healthy weights, center spokeswoman Melissa Sciacca said, so the team spent most of the time watching for unusual or distressed behavior.

The two likely became disoriented by the muddy, shallow water, Executive Director Keith Matassa said. Most dolphin typically stick to deeper water and swims in larger pods. With some guidance from team members on surfboards, the pair moved away from the coves and toward Huntington Harbour just after noon.

“They stopped circling and went immediately under the bridge,” Matassa said.

Team members remained at the scene for several more hours, with no sighting of the dolphin. By 3:30 p.m., Sciacca said they believed the animals had returned to the ocean. The dolphin could have been exploring, a normal behavior. In some cases, dolphin have been drawn to the wetlands by bait fish that live in the waters.

Representatives from the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Services were on hand to monitor the dolphin and aid in determining if a rescue was necessary. Local law enforcement officials helped control traffic on Pacific Coast Highway as a crowd of about 30 passersby and several news vans formed.

At one point in the morning, one of the dolphin made its way out of a cove and headed toward the ocean. It later returned and joined its companion in a cove farther north, near the wetlands interpretive center.

Because the dolphin returned to shallow waters, rescuers decided to approach the pair about 10:30 a.m., Sciacca said. Crew members crouched at the shore, tapping the water to encourage the dolphins to swim away.

Around 11 a.m., two rescue team members got into the water on surfboards and approached the dolphin farthest into the cove, which had its face pointed into shrubs at the shore. Holding it by the fins to guide it, they paddled out of the shallow area. In the more-open water, it rejoined the other dolphin.

Team members stayed at the cove entrance to discourage the pair from backtracking; the animals remained nearby.

Just after noon, the dolphin swam beneath the bridge at Warner Avenue and into Huntington Harbour to the sound of clapping and cheers from team members and onlookers.

Sciacca said the rescue team would continue to monitor the dolphin until there was a strong indication they had reached the ocean: “All of this is normal behavior, and there is no reason to be concerned at this point.”

Contact the writer: ckoerner@ocregister.com or 714-704-3709