Name: FB07, also known as Lightning

Sex: Female

Age: Born 1984

Lightning got her nickname thanks to a bolt-shaped mark that she had on her dorsal fin when she was young. She’s the daughter of Mama Mia (FB84). We’ve sighted her more than 1,288 times on our monthly surveys since June 29, 1984. During one of our 2020 sightings, we were pleased to see her with her 10th calf! Check out the photo below.

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.

Lightning and her 10th calf, C070