Thursday, September 20, 2012

And the Beat Goes On

Today was our last day in the field for this season. And it was a fantastic day! Again multiple groups were mud plume feeding, providing more data towards our investigation of this interesting behavior. In addition, we ran into most of Key West “gang” one more time, including an old friend who had just given birth (see more detail below).

Florida Keys dolphins move through really shallow water
This morning when we first started encountering groups the tide was low. In the Lower Florida Keys, since the average depth of water is about a meter, many areas become exposed during low tide (see photo below). The first group we encountered moved through a pass so shallow that we had to stop watching the animals and start working to avoid running aground. Dolphins in the keys regularly move in shallow waters and can sometimes be spotted easily because in the shallows the dorsal fins stay above the water between surfacing for air.


Dolphins in the Florida Keys move through shallow water regularly. In the upper left photo is a dolphin moving in the shallows near a sea grass flat that is exposed during a low tide (brown area in background). In the bottom right photo is a group of dolphins in water so shallow that they cannot get entirely under the water in between surfacings.

Meet the newest member of the Key West population
The third group we encountered included what appeared to be 2 adults mud plume feeding and a larger calf born sometime this year. We immediately recognized one of the adults to be Splitfin. It was not until about 10 min into the follow that we got a really nice surprise. Hidden on the other side of Splitfin was a brand new calf no more than a day or two old! We had seen Splitfin previously this season and had no idea she was pregnant and about to give birth. This was a super end to our work this year!


Splitfin and her calf

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