We only get occasional glimpses of dolphins feeding, but sometimes it’s spectacular. Fish whacking is one of the most noteworthy feeding behaviors. As first documented in the SDRP in the 1980s (and more recently in Time Magazine), a dolphin will “whack” a fish with its tail flukes, sometimes sending the fish 20 ft or more [...]
Bottlenose dolphins often listen for their next meal. While they eat many different fish species, among the favorites in Sarasota Bay are soniferous or noise-making fish, which include pigfish and toadfish. That’s right, dolphins, which are famous for their sonar, use passive listening to help when hunting prey. Building on ground-breaking work by the late [...]
Iron storage disease is becoming a more frequently diagnosed condition in bottlenose dolphins in human care. In other animals and humans, this disease occurs when the body absorbs too much iron usually through the diet. Extra iron in the body builds up in the liver and other organs and this build up can lead to [...]
Dolphins in Sarasota Bay eat a variety fish species. The most common prey are those that make sounds. Dolphins have excellent hearing, and they use it to help catch sound-producing fish . Common prey fish include pinfish, pigfish, spot, and mullet. But when the opportunity presents, dolphin exhibit a preference for sea trout, toadfish, ladyfish, [...]
Learn about different ways dolphins catch fish, and what kinds of fish they eat.
By Steve Shippee, PhD student, University of Central Florida With the support of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, I conducted a study to assess the problem of harmful interactions between bottlenose dolphins and the sport fishery along the Northwest Florida – Alabama Gulf Coast. I made observations on deep-sea sport fishing trips and used photo-identification [...]
By Randall S. Wells, PhD In response to the increase in dolphins taking bait, catch and discards from anglers, we worked with NOAA Fisheries Service, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute, and fishing guides and anglers to develop a set of 10 tips that can improve the experience of the angler or boater while enhancing protection for [...]
These data indicate that at the population level resident bottlenose dolphins of Sarasota Bay select soniferous prey. These results lend further support to the hypothesis that bottlenose dolphins use passive listening to locate sound-producing fishes.
This summer, the Shannon-Weaver diversity index was calculated to be 1.91, nearly identical to last summer’s high of 1.92.
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