Nicks 'n' Notches Online
A monthly enewsletter from the
Sarasota Dolphin Research Program
July 2022
Offshore Dolphin Tracking Update
During a health assessment on June 1, we tagged an Atlantic spotted dolphin with a satellite-linked transmitter and have been following her ever since. The dolphin, nicknamed Eugenie Clark, has moved through waters 25-43 miles off the coast between Tampa Bay and Englewood, diving as deep as 45 meters (147 feet) and sometimes staying down for up to 4 minutes.

These are the first such data available for this species over the West Florida Shelf, and they’ve been made possible through a Florida RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence grant. The research team also included personnel from the National Marine Mammal Foundation, the University of Florida, Syracuse University, Mote Marine Laboratory, and Fundacion Oceanografic.
Notes from the Field and Lab
In May, we assessed the health of five dolphins in Sarasota Bay. This effort included more than 130 researchers, students, veterinarians, experienced handlers, and trainees from the U.S. and abroad — including law enforcement and stranding response personnel — and 13 boats.

During these studies, small groups of dolphins are encircled with a net in shallow waters. Individuals are brought aboard a special veterinary exam vessel and placed on a padded and shaded deck. Teams led by veterinarians then examine the animals and gather measurements and biological samples before the animals are released on site.

These health check-ups allow veterinarians and biologists to gather basic information — sex, weight, length — and conduct physical exams. They also conduct ultrasound examinations to determine reproductive status and check the condition of internal organs, and take blood and other biological samples. Not only do these assessments allow us to monitor the health of Sarasota Bay dolphins, they also provide data on a reference population for studies of bottlenose dolphins in other more at-risk areas, such as the dolphins impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

We’ve been conducting health assessments periodically since 1988, as scientific questions warrant, and as financial support has been available to address the questions. This was our first assessment post-Covid and it was made possible thanks to support from Dolphin Quest, Disney Conservation, Mote Scientific Foundation, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution/Florida Atlantic University, Fundacion Oceanografic de Valencia, NOAA Prescott Grants Program and the University of Southern Denmark.

In all, this year’s health assessment allowed us to gather information for more than 45 projects (We report our findings via scientific publications and summarize some of them in our annual publication, Nicks ‘n’ Notches. Here's our most recent edition.)

As part of the assessment, we were joined by University of Hawaii (UH) graduate student Fabien Vivier and his intern Kyleigh Fertitta from the UH Marine Mammal Research Program to test the use of Unoccupied Aerial System (UAS, or drones) to remotely measure and assess the condition and pregnancy status of individual dolphins from overhead images.
The goal of the project was to:

  • Collect aerial videos of individual dolphins examined during the health assessment to compare morphometric estimates obtained via UAS-photogrammetry to the actual physical measurements to ground-truth the remote measurements.
  • Estimate ages of dolphins based on length to eventually quantify the demographic structure (i.e., proportion of calves, juveniles, and adults) of the population.
  • Assess the pregnancy status of the females in the population to help determine at what stage a pregnancy can be detected via UAS-photogrammetry.
  • Document scars, lesions, evidence of previous entanglements and boat strikes on the dolphins living in Sarasota Bay.

This is another example of how the SDRP is able to test innovative research methods using the natural laboratory setting of Sarasota Bay.

You can learn more about their project and how it could benefit wild marine mammal populations in this recent blog post they wrote.

Until next month, here's to fair winds and following seas!

Randy Wells
Fin of the Month
Name: F155
Age: 32
Sex: Female
A Dolphin’s Life: Murphy Brown was born in 1990 to FB05, one of the earliest dolphins we documented (back in 1971, just a year after our research program began). She is part of one of the best-known dolphin lineages in Sarasota Bay. Since Murphy Brown’s birth, we’ve observed her more than 1,190 times. One of our most recent observations came this year when we saw her on May 17 with her ninth calf! You can listen to Murphy Brown's signature whistle here.

We also know Murphy Brown’s sister, FB55, who has given birth to seven calves of her own, including her most recent calf, born in 2020.
The May 2022 picture above shows Murphy Brown with her ninth calf, 1559.
Be Dolphin Safe this Summer

  • Don’t feed wild dolphins.
  • Reel in your fishing line if dolphins appear.
  • Change locations if dolphins show interest in bait or catch.
  • Release catch quietly away from dolphins when and where it is possible to do so without violating any state or federal fishing regulations.
  • Check gear and terminal tackle to make sure it won’t break off easily and, if your line does break, be sure to collect anything left behind in mangroves or on docks.
  • Use circle and corrodible hooks and avoid braided fishing line.
  • Stay at least 50 yards away from dolphins.
  • Stash your trash in a lidded container on your boat until you can get to shore and dispose of it safely in a place where it will not blow back into the water.

Download the Dolphin-Friendly Tips Card

Celebrating More than 50 Years of Research, Conservation and Education
For more information on how you can help support wild dolphin research, please contact Randy Wells, Director of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, at RWells@mote.org or 941.374.0449.
Dolphin Biology Research Institute — DBA Sarasota Dolphin Research Program — is dedicated to research and conservation of dolphins and their habitat. Community Foundation of Sarasota County Giving Partner Profile available here.

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