We conducted a 5-day capture-release dolphin health assessment project in Sarasota Bay in May 2011. The primary impetus behind the project was to obtain data and samples to serve as controls for comparison to samples to be collected by NOAA in oil-impacted Barataria Bay, Louisiana in August. An additional goal included training foreign scientists for [...]

Researchers are still learning about how marine mammals can return from a long deep dive without suffering the “bends.” Nitrogen, which is a gas at the surface, will dissolve in the blood with increasing pressure. So, as a dolphin or whale makes a deep dive, more and more nitrogen will dissolve in the blood as [...]

Lacaziosis (Lacazia loboi) is a fungal skin disease that occurs naturally only in humans and dolphins. It was first reported in a dolphin in 1970 in Sarasota Bay by Blair Irvine, who co-authored the first scientific article on the disease in dolphins. Recent analyses of longitudinal photographs of diseased dolphins in Sarasota Bay indicate that [...]

The highest concentrations of PCBs ever reported in a marine mammal were found in the blubber of bottlenose dolphins near a Brunswick, GA Superfund site. New research compared contaminant concentrations of dolphins in three areas, including one with a Superfund site on the shoreline. Dolphins near the Superfund site had record contaminant levels, while dolphins [...]

Dolphins in Sarasota Bay, Fl and elsewhere are vulnerable to cetacean morbilliviruses. These are viruses that can cause large scale mortalities, referred to as Unusual Mortality Events. New research has looked at dolphin “herd” immunity levels along the southeastern coast of the US to identify viral disease risk factors. Blood and tissue samples were analyzed [...]

Algae blooms contain neurotoxins that may have chronic effects on the health of bottlenose dolphins. The dinoflagellate Karenia brevis produces neurotoxic brevetoxins, which are known to be harmful to aquatic organisms and humans (as well as local economies). Known as “Florida red tide,” wave action may cause K. brevis cells to burst, releasing the toxins [...]

Dolphins near a Georgia Superfund site suffer from anemia, hypothyroidism, and suppressed immune function. In a coastal area contaminated by a Superfund site, a newly published study reports that endocrine system disruptors, in the form of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), may be highly concentrated in the blubber of dolphins. This research is important, because 26% of [...]

By Leslie Schwierzke-Wade, MS Student, Dana L. Wetzel, PhD, and John E. Reynolds, PhD, Mote Marine Laboratory Environmental and anthropogenic stressors can affect marine populations in a variety of ways. Marine mammals, specifically bottlenose dolphins, can serve as excellent indicators of environmental health in coastal ecosystems. Though possible stressors have been identified for dolphins, their [...]

By Michael Moore, Vet MB, PhD, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution As an air breathing mammal dives, the air in its lungs is compressed and the amount of gas in blood and tissues increases. As the diver begins to return to the surface, the amount of gas decreases again with the reducing pressure, with a risk [...]