Meet the 2026 Sarasota Bay Dolphin Calves!

On May 1, 2026, we spotted the first calf of the year. 22-year-old Mom, F209, had her sixth documented calf. F209, nicknamed Keeley, is the granddaughter to FB55, nicknamed Rebecca. FB55’s mom, FB05 (“W-2”), was first identified in 1971. Interestingly, the place we saw Keeley and her new calf was just two miles from where Greatgrandma was first identified! This is a great reminder that Sarasota Bay’s dolphins are long-term residents that inhabit the same areas over generations. (By the way, in case you were wondering, the nicknames Keeley and Rebecca are from the TV show Ted Lasso.)

2026 Dolphin Calves

Our second calf of the season was observed on May 6, 2026, with mom F227, nicknamed “Patch.” The calf, 2275, is Patch’s fifth. Patch is the 21-year-old daughter of “Pumpkin,” (FB09) and the grandcalf of “Ms. Mayhem,” FB63. The appearance of the season’s new, naive babies are a good reminder for boaters to practice safe boating behaviors — especially in Sarasota Bay’s shallow grassflats.

Did you know that every six minutes, a power boat passes by dolphins in the Bay? Collisions with boats have the potential to injure or even kill dolphins. For instance, Pumpkin and her family are some of the dolphins that have been affected by boats in this area. In 1996, Pumpkin was hit by a boat propeller while swimming with her year-old calf named Pi. The propeller cut deeply into her dorsal fin and she became separated from young Pi for several days. A few years later, Pi and his buddy Noah were also hit by boats, leaving minor injuries on Pi’s dorsal fin and deep cuts along Noah’s side. Fortunately, they survived the accident but Seed, Pi’s younger sister, was not as lucky, and was killed when a boat hit her at the age of 3. Sadly, stories like these are not uncommon, with 1 in 20 dolphins in Sarasota Bay having boat collision scars like those seen on Pi, Pumpkin and Noah.

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On May 12, 2026, we documented the third calf of the season. Meet 1655, shown here with mom, F165! We first observed F165 as a calf in 1999. Since then, we’ve recorded well over 600 sightings of her. Her own mother, FB75, died during a bad red tide in 2006 after ingesting a fishing lure.

F165’s first calf was born in 2011, but did not survive. Her second, 1652, was born in 2016 and, despite the fact that we observed this calf with shark bites when it was only days old, the calf survived. F165’s third calf, 1653, was born in 2019. In 2023, she gave birth to the first calf of the year, 1654. This year, when we saw her with her newest calf, they were also with 1653 and 1654!

On May 21, 2026, we observed F197 — nicknamed Mabel (click here to visit Mabel’s page and listen to her signature whistle) — with her new calf, 1977. 1977 is the fourth calf of 2026.

Mabel was the second calf of a dolphin nicknamed Murphy Brown and she’s also the grandcalf of FB05 — one of the first dolphins catalogued in Sarasota Bay, in 1971. We’ve observed Mabel more than 900 times since her birth in 2003. Today, she’s a mom in her own right:

She had her first calf when she was 9 years old in 2012. That calf, Esther has been sighted more than 600 times since birth and is also a mom to two of her own calves.

• Mabel’s second calf, Gizmo, was born in 2015 and has been observed more than 350 times.
• Her third calf, F291, was born in 2017 and has been observed 100 times.
• Her fourth calf, Ron, has been observed more than 200 times since it was born in 2019..
• Her fifth calf, 1975, has been observed 100 times since its birth in 2022.
• Her sixth calf was unfortunately lost in 2024.
• Her seventh and current calf was first observed on May 21, 2026.

We frequently see Mabel in an area with high boat traffic that includes local recreational boats, rental boats and dolphin tour operations. We encourage all boaters to enjoy dolphins from at least 50 yards away.

• Click here to learn about dolphin-friendly boating techniques.