Smooth Water

Today was another fantastic day on the water with light winds and no storms. This season we have been really lucky and have now broken our record for the most days out in a row (12). Usually, winds increase or storms come in, keeping us off the water maybe every 5th day or so. Below are some of our observations from today.

Fin Changes
We found many dolphins we have seen before today in an area north of Key West where the bottom is sandy causing the color of the water to appear aqua blue. One of these animals was Dog Bowl, who had some new pieces missing from its fin. It is really important to monitor individuals in study populations frequently, so that researchers can monitor changes over time, and continue to be able to re-identify them. Dog Bowl has a couple of changes, but the biggest is the loss of the top of its fin. You can see this by comparing the photos taken today and previously below. 

Changes in Dog Bowl's fin over time. The first photo was taken previously, the second photo was taken today. One of the most obvious changes was the loss of the tip if the fin.

Caught a fish
In the first couple of groups we encountered, dolphins were chasing down fish. Sometimes we can be lucky enough to actually see dolphins with fish in their mouths. And even luckier if we are able to capture the moment with a photo. The action takes place so fast, we can rarely id the fish species, but with a photograph, we can enlarge and zoom in to examine it. Below you can see a common fish seen in the Lower Keys called a ballyhoo in the dolphins mouth. This fish has a characteristic behavior of skipping along the surface of the water when startled or when trying to escape capture. Dolphins in one of the local communities, feed sometimes on these fish by chasing them. We will see the dolphins moving fast just under the surface and the ballyhoo running along the top of the water, trying to get away.

The Birds are Watching
In many areas, birds will keep an eye out for dolphins feeding near the surface because they may be able to swipe the fish. In the keys, when dolphins fish toss (taking the fish captured and then tossing it in the air) they put themselves at risk of loosing the fish to these watchful birds. We see fish tossing mostly in younger animals. Today after a feeding bout, one dolphin started fish tossing and soon after, frigate birds appeared (see photo below), diving to try and get an easy meal. We did not see if they were successful at “stealing” from the dolphins, but later near our boat one frigate caught a fish without the dolphins "help".

Frigate bird flying over head, looking for a meal (photo one) and diving down to attempt to capture a fish (second photo).