Name: F178, also known as Pi

Sex: Male

Age: Born 1995

Pi is an adult male resident of the Sarasota population, known since birth. His fin is easily recognizable by its nicks and notches. Unfortunately some of those notches were caused by a boat strike. Pi’s mother and his closest associate, Noah, also suffered boat strike injuries to their dorsal fins. Sadly, his sister, Seed, was hit and killed by a boat during the severe red tide in 2005. Pi and his family tend to frequent shallow waters, where it is impossible for them to dive beneath approaching boats. Pi and his family serve as a reminder to be careful when boating near wildlife as we are visitors in their home.

A Special Note About the Audio Recording

In collaboration with numerous colleagues over the past 35 years, our dolphin communication research team has collected thousands of hours of acoustic recordings from members of the resident Sarasota bottlenose dolphin community, with a focus on individually distinctive signature whistles. Recordings have been made during periodic health assessments, when we are able to obtain high-quality recordings of known individual dolphins. We are currently in the process of systematically assembling a verified signature whistle catalog, with multiple samples from each of the approximately 1,000 unique recording sessions of almost 300 individual dolphins. Members of this collaborative team, and our student researchers, come from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of North Carolina Wilmington, University of St. Andrews, and Hampshire College. Learn more about dolphin communication.

Pi (front) and Noah (rear)