Nicks 'n' Notches Online
A monthly enewsletter from the
Sarasota Dolphin Research Program
June 2022
SDRP in the News
CZS-SDRP Director Dr. Randy Wells was recently featured in Florida Trend magazine as a Florida icon!
Tampa Bay's Channel 10 (WTSP) also recently aired a story on our newest underwater listening stations at New College.
Notes from the Field and Lab
This month, we conducted the first-ever health assessment of an offshore dolphin in the Gulf of Mexico. This collaborative effort led by CZS-SDRP involved biologists and veterinarians from six nonprofit organizations and universities and was supported through a Florida RESTORE Act Centers of Excellence grant, through the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO).
 
We conduct the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population and have been studying bottlenose dolphins in the inshore and coastal Gulf waters since 1970, including periodically performing health assessments on dolphins in shallow inshore waters. The goal of this new project is to study the health and ranging patterns of dolphins in offshore Gulf waters to address important gaps in our knowledge of dolphins there that were identified during investigation of the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
On June 1, the team — which included the National Marine Mammal Foundation, the University of Florida, Syracuse University, Mote Marine Laboratory, the Chicago Zoological Society and Fundacion Oceanografic — briefly caught an adult female Atlantic spotted dolphin, gave her a veterinary examination, took biological samples, then tagged and released her about 27 miles offshore of Sarasota, Florida, over the West Florida Shelf.
 
We nicknamed the dolphin “Eugenie Clark” in honor of the pioneering marine scientist who founded Mote Marine Laboratory in 1955, and who greatly increased our knowledge of creatures in the Gulf.
 
Before releasing the dolphin on-site, we obtained blood samples for health evaluation, used ultrasound to examine the health of her lungs and other organs, used respirometry to measure lung function, and attached two kinds of temporary electronic tags. 
This Atlantic spotted dolphin nicknamed “Eugenie Clark” was tagged and released on June 1 by a team of researchers led by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore of Sarasota, Florida. In this picture, a small satellite-linked tag is temporarily attached to her dorsal fin, and a suction-cup mounted DTAG is located in front of her dorsal fin. The DTAG released automatically 19 hours later, as programmed, and scientists are now reviewing the data it collected.
One tag was a satellite-linked transmitter designed to send information on her locations, dive depths, and dive durations every other day over the next several months. This tag is programmed to automatically release in a few months. The second tag was a suction-cup-mounted digital archival tag (DTAG) that recorded sounds and details of her movements until its programmed release the next morning. 
 
Initial data from the satellite-linked transmitter show her moving through the same waters in an area where frequent sightings of spotted dolphins have been reported. Some of her initial dives have been to more than 90 foot depths, near the sea floor, and lasted for more than three minutes. The DTAG was recovered as planned, and recordings indicate that she started feeding about 33 minutes after release and continued feeding near the seafloor thereafter.
 
The research is being conducted through Mote Marine Laboratory, and will continue for three more field sessions over the next two years. The work is focused on both Atlantic spotted dolphins and bottlenose dolphins using shelf waters up to about 50 miles from shore.
 
The FIO funding through this project also provides continuing support for the Gulf of Mexico Dolphin Identification System (GoMDIS). This collaborative repository is a catalog of dolphin fin images that allow researchers to identify dolphins around the Gulf, including identifying their movements from one region to another.

We'll continue to keep you posted on this project and on Eugenie Clark the dolphin. In the meantime, here's to a summer of fair winds and following seas!

Randy Wells

P.S. The map below shows the movements of the spotted dolphin Eugenie Clark following her tagging.
Fin of the Month
Name: FB25
Age: 44
Sex: Female
A Dolphin’s Life: Sarasota area boaters might recognize FB25 because of her very distinctive dorsal fin with a series of notches toward its tip. She frequents the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) east of Siesta and Casey Keys and has been observed by our survey team more than 840 times since June 1984.

So far this summer, we've documented nine young-of-the-year calves. The latest — C25B — is FB25's 12th calf — a record number of births for a Sarasota Bay dolphin!

Learn more about FB25, her calves and some of their troubles, and listen to her signature whistle on our website!
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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