The CZS-SDRP curates the Gulf of Mexico Dolphin Identification System (GoMDIS), which combines, standardizes, and serves as an online archive for dolphin ID catalogues from groups throughout the Gulf of Mexico — including Mexico and Cuba. This repository allows us to identify dolphins throughout the Gulf and discover changes in ranging patterns or even determine the origins of stranded dolphins. Automated fin-matching software helps us track dolphins across catalogs.
In this video, SDRP’s Carolyn Cush explains the system and why it was created following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Disaster in her presentation from the 24th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in August 2022.
This picture shows just how different fins can be. F11, Merrily, is the larger dolphin in the back. The middle fin is her fifth calf and the dolphin in front is her second calf.
