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October 2015 - In This Issue:
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Welcome to Nicks 'n' Notches Online, the enewsletter of the
Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.
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RESEARCH, CONSERVATION
AND EDUCATION SINCE 1970.
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The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP) is a collaboration dedicated to dolphin research, conservation and education.
It began in 1970 at Mote Marine Laboratory when Blair Irvine and high school student Randy Wells began a tagging study to find out if dolphins on Florida's central west coast from southern Tampa Bay to Charlotte Harbor remained in the area or traveled more widely.
Our discovery of long-term residency set the stage for our future efforts, by demonstrating opportunities to study individually identifiable dolphins throughout their lives.
Two of the dolphins first identified in 1970-71 have been seen in 2015, and we are currently observing dolphins up to age 65, including members of up to five concurrent generations.
Our dolphin research, conservation, and education work is conducted under the umbrella name "Sarasota Dolphin Research Program." This name links the efforts of several organizations and individuals that work together to ensure the continuity of our long-term dolphin efforts in Sarasota Bay and elsewhere.
The SDRP has been operated by the Chicago Zoological Society (CZS) since 1989.
"Dolphin Biology Research Institute," is a Sarasota-based 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation established in 1982. It provides logistical support with its fleet of six small research vessels, two towing vehicles, computers, cameras, field equipment, etc.
Since 1992, the program has been based at Mote Marine Laboratory on City Island in Sarasota Bay, with office, lab, storage and dock space and easy access to boat launching ramps within the home range of the Sarasota Bay resident dolphins.
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Notes from the Field and Lab...
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Randall Wells, Ph.D., Director
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As many of you know, the SDRP conducts monthly dolphin surveys that help provide context to understand
 wild dolphin ecology. This observational data helps us understand social behavior, foraging, communication, health and habitat use. We use the nicks and notches on their dorsal fins to tell the dolphins apart (hence the name of this newsletter), cataloguing their fin images into a central database. That's how we know that there are 160 dolphins living in Sarasota Bay and how we can do our
"Fin of the Month" picture below.
But we're also working with 22 collaborating organizations that have their own catalogues of Gulf of Mexico dolphins to develop a central database of fin images of bottlenose dolphins throughout the coastal waters of the Gulf. This database, called the Gulf of Mexico Dolphin Identification System (GoMDIS), is a Gulf-wide, on-line, collaborative bottlenose dolphin identification catalog, managed by the Chicago Zoological Society's Carolyn Cush (CZS) with assistance from CZS staff Shauna McBride and Allison Honaker. (The database is accessible only to contributing researchers.)
This collaboration is truly Gulf-wide and includes international participants from Cuba and Mexico. In one interesting finding, a dolphin recorded in one catalogue in 1983 was not documented again until 24 years later, in 2007, when it was documented in a separate catalogue. NOAA recently provided funding support to help continue the program through 2015.
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This month we also led a team that freed a bottlenose dolphin calf from plastic debris and fishing line caught around her body. The calf, estimated to be about 6 months old, was first
reported by a boat captain. Boaters in the area around Caladesi Island and Dunedin Causeway were notified via VHF radio to be on the lookout for the calf.
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Plastic encircling the dolphin calf. SDRP photo taken under NOAA Permit #18786
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As reports of sightings came in, NOAA Fisheries asked SDRP to lead a rescue team. The team included biologists and veterinarians from Clearwater Marine Aquarium (who received the initial call about the entanglement and also provided most of the boats for the rescue), the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Mote Marine Laboratory, the University of Florida, SeaWorld Orlando, NOAA Fisheries and an experienced net fisherman.
Accompanied by law enforcement vessels, the 37-person rescue team left the dock in Clearwater on five boats at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15. By 10:21 a.m., veterinarians and biologists had caught the calf, removed the entanglements, examined her and determined that she had no major injuries.
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She was released with her mother wearing a small tag clipped to
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| Plastic and fishing line attached to the calf. |
her dorsal fin to allow for future monitoring of her progress. Both animals swam off side-by-side.
The gear removed included a ring of plastic strapping material that encircled the dolphin's chest, with two kinds of fishing line trailing from the ring. If not removed, the lines and debris would likely have cut deeply into the calf and eventually killed it.
Both mom and calf were seen five days after the rescue by Clearwater Marine Aquarium staff, apparently doing well.
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On a sad note, we lost two of our oldest resident dolphins this month -- Riptorn, who we featured in last month's fin of the month, was 43 -- and FB28, who was 50. (Learn more about FB28 below.) We're still awaiting histopathology results to see if a cause of death can be determined, but both dolphins were at the upper end of their age ranges; FB28, in fact, was the second-oldest-known male dolphin in Sarasota Bay.
It's very sad when our long-term resident dolphins die, but we value the opportunity to know what happened to them at the end. Both Riptorn and FB28 were important contributors to our understanding of coastal bottlenose dolphin lives. FB28 was one of the first dolphins to show us that these animals are resident to specific ranges that they maintain over decades.
I wanted to share both the story of the deaths of Riptorn and FB28, along with the story of the calf rescue, to remind people of the challenges these animals face in the course of their everyday lives, both from humans and from the natural progression of life.
I'd also like to offer a special thank you to the Batchelor Foundation, which has recently provided important funding support to the Chicago Zoological Society that will help keep our research team intact for the remainder of 2015. Having a strong research team not only ensures the continuation of the world's longest-running study of a wild dolphin population, it also ensures that we are able to respond to entangled and injured dolphins -- like the calf I talked about above -- on a moment's notice.
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- We've documented 13 calves born to Sarasota Bay regulars so far this year -- making it a better-than-average year.
- CZS staff Elizabeth Berens McCabe and Sunnie Brenneman conducted our summer dolphin prey fish sampling and documented the third-highest catch rates since we implemented the program in 2004. This baseline information will be particularly important as a red tide develops in the area.
- Jason Allen and Aaron Barleycorn, of CZS, traveled to the Indian River Lagoon to conduct a week-long training program in biopsy dart sampling for researchers on the east coast of Florida.
- Aaron, Jason and Katie McHugh, of CZS, also traveled to Bermuda in September to help collect blood samples and attach satellite-linked transmitters that record time & depth information in a study of dolphin diving physiology. Our previous research has recorded the deepest dives ever documented for bottlenose dolphins (more than 11 minutes & 900 meters). Alas, the uncooperative weather precluded research success this year!
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Fin of the Month
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AGE: 50
SEX: Male
A DOLPHIN'S LIFE: FB28 was first identified in March 1971 during a pilot dolphin tagging study based at Mote Marine Laboratory. Over the ensuing 44 years, he was observed more than 500 times. His body was recovered by Mote on Oct. 17.
FB28 ranged from southern Tampa Bay through Sarasota Bay, but spent most of his time in the northern portion of this range. He was seen with more than 300 different dolphins over the years.
As is the pattern for adult males in Sarasota Bay and elsewhere, he was closely associated with several other males in strong pair-bonds, but he outlived each of them. In recent years, he was seen on occasion with the oldest male resident, F154, also known from the pilot tagging study.
FB28 was confirmed through paternity testing to have sired at least two calves, and probably a third, all with the same female known as Pecan Sandie, a seasonal visitor from Tampa Bay. Although Pecan Sandie disappeared five years ago after having been observed for 20 years, all three calves continue to be seen during our monitoring surveys, providing a legacy for FB28.
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FB28 in 2007, with monofilament fishing line stretched taut between his dorsal fin and fluke. SDRP was able to cut the line and the remaining strands came off on their own. The white crusty skin disease evident on his dorsal fin is a fungal disease called Lacaziosis.
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In the latter decades of his life, FB28 contracted a fungal disease known as Lacaziosis (previously called Lobomycosis). The coverage of much of his dorsal fin by this white, crusty, cauliflower-like skin disease made FB28 one of the most recognizable dolphins in the region. This disease was first described for bottlenose dolphins from a Sarasota Bay dolphin recovered and necropsied in 1970 by Blair Irvine and Randy Wells, at Mote. Previously, it was only known from humans in Central and South America. This disease has since been observed on cetaceans around the world. A doctoral student from the Medical University of South Carolina, Leslie Hart, based a portion of her dissertation on tracking the development of this disease on FB28 over time. Animals afflicted with this skin disease can survive many years without obvious ill effects.
In his later years, FB28 began to interact with humans to a greater extent, patrolling around anglers in boats and on fishing piers. In 2007 he became entangled in monofilament fishing line, with multiple strands stretched taut between his dorsal fin and his fluke. A rescue team from the SDRP was able to cut the line from a boat, using a long-handled cutting tool, and once cut, the remaining strands came off on their own.
At age 50, FB28 was the second-oldest male Sarasota Bay resident dolphin and we are saddened by his death. Cause of death is unknown, pending histopathology results.
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Dolphin Biology Research Institute (DBA Sarasota Dolphin Research Program)
is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to research and conservation of dolphins and their habitat. Employer Identification No. 59-2288387; Florida Charitable Contributions Solicitations Registration No. CH1172. A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL FLORIDA REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE OR AT WWW.FRESHFROMFLORIDA.COM. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. THIS ORGANIZATION RETAINS 100% OF ALL CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED.
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