Dolphin F249
Stats
Name: F249
Sex: Female
Born: 2011
A Dolphin’s Life
We first observed F249 as a young-of-the-year calf of F185. Since then, we’ve documented 117 sightings of her, including our most recent sighting in January. She seems to spend most of her time in the northern part of our study range in Palma Sola Bay and to the north. In 2022, F249 gave birth to her first calf, 2491, who appears to be doing well!
A Dolphin’s Voice
A Special Note About the Audio Recording
In collaboration with numerous colleagues over the past 41 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 have assembled a verified signature whistle catalog, called the Sarasota Dolphin Whistle Database, with multiple samples from each of the 985 unique recording sessions of 329 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, Aarhus University, Hampshire College and Cetacean Communication Research.
- Learn more about dolphin communication.
- In November 2026, we also launched the Sarasota Bay Listening Network website, which allows visitors to listen to the underwater soundscape — including Sarasota Bay dolphins and other animals. By pairing the whistle catalog, live underwater hydrophones and applying machine learning tools, we can now monitor the Bay for dolphin movements in near-real time! Learn more here.
