Name: FB33, also known as Saida Beth

Sex: Female

Born: 1982

Presumed Dead: 2022

Saida Beth was one of the SDRP’s best-known and most recognizable dolphins. She had been observed in and around Sarasota Bay more than 1,300 times since her birth in 1982. She was one of our most prolific dolphins and had given birth to 11 calves (though not all of them survived). Her last calf, C33A, was born in 2018. We last observed Saida Beth in October 2022 and she is now presumed dead.

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.

Saida Beth (rear) and her 10th calf, F259, in 2017

Dolphin 1792, Merrily and Saida Beth head into Palma Sola Bay

Saida Beth and calf C33A in 2018