Every Breath They Take? New Study Suggests Dolphins are Inhaling Plastics A member of the SDRP research team holds a petri dish over a dolphin's blowhole to collect a breath sample during a health assessment. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have detected microplastic particles in the
Paper Provides New Insights on How Microplastics are Moving From Prey to Predator A new research paper based on studies conducted in Sarasota Bay is providing insights on how microplastics are moving from prey to predator — indicating that dolphins are ingesting microplastics contained in the fish they eat and potentially providing
Dolphin ID Catalog Uncovers Life History of Dolphin Recovered on North Florida Beach In July 2024, Gulf World Marine Institute (GWMI) submitted dorsal fin pictures of a deceased bottlenose dolphin they recovered at Panama City Beach to the Gulf of Mexico Dolphin Identification System (GoMDIS), an online archive for dolphin ID catalogs
Oh Baby! Meet the 2024 Sarasota Bay Dolphin Calves! 2075 is the first young-of-the-year (YOY) Sarasota Bay dolphin of 2024! We captured this image on May 7. If you look closely at the calf, you can see stripes between its head and dorsal fin. These wrinkles are called “fetal folds” or “neonatal
Boat Collision Injures Sarasota Bay Dolphin In July 2024, members of the public reported a dolphin with an injured dorsal fin. Subsequent surveys by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program allowed us to identify the dolphin as F312, an 8-year-old male dolphin born to FB90, also known as “Killer.” Since his birth in
June 2024 Offshore Dolphin Research Update Since 2022, we’ve been conducting health assessments of offshore dolphins to gather data needed to address critical information gaps for the little-known species that regularly inhabit west Florida’s continental shelf waters. In May 2024, we conducted the final field session of our Florida RESTORE Act Centers of
Playful Young Male Dolphins in Western Australia Grow Up to Have More Offspring Photo by Shark Bay Dolphin Research As humans, we grow up playing with other children. Animals of many species likewise play with their peers. But why? Play has its costs, especially for young animals. It uses energy
Fishing Line Cuts Like a Saw — Rescuing "Roy Kent" Starting in February 2024, we made numerous attempts to remotely disentangle an 8-year-old, 7.5-foot, 315-pound male dolphin nicknamed "Roy Kent" (F334) from the fishing line embedded in his tail fluke. Finally, on May 21, we were able to catch him, remove most
2615 Rescued from Fishing Line Entanglement During our May 2024 dolphin health assessments, we conducted a disentanglement on a 4-year-old male dolphin. 2615, is a calf seen infrequently in our study area but we know him to be the son of F261, age 49. The entanglement badly disfigured his dorsal fin and
Creating Monofilament Collectors to Help Save Dolphins from Entanglement Did you know that monofilament fishing line can take up to 600 years to decompose and that it takes even longer for braided fishing line? More than a decade ago, scientists from SDRP, along with Mote Marine Laboratory,
