Dolphin 6741, the 2025 calf of 1674, is shown here with a fresh shark bite wound we observed in September 2025.

Did you know that in addition to studying dolphins, we also study sharks in collaboration with Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sharks and Rays Conservation Research Program? That’s because we need to understand dolphin prey and predators to gain a deeper understanding of the ecosystem dynamics that shape the dolphin community.

During our monthly photographic identification surveys of the dolphin community, we are able to document shark bite wounds on local dolphins, providing evidence of unsuccessful predation attempts (that is, attempts by sharks to eat the dolphins). These data are crucial for understanding seasonal and annual changes in predation pressure on the dolphin community.

Through our work, we know that bull sharks and tiger sharks are the most frequent predator of the dolphin residents. A New College of Florida graduate student used measurements of individual shark bite wounds to estimate the shark species and sizes responsible. Some larger wounds were consistent with bites from tiger sharks, while smaller wounds showed more overlap between species. Ongoing work will incorporate bite shape to further refine these estimates.

With our Mote collaborators, we have tagged bull sharks using acoustic transmitters to track shark movements and habitat use of Sarasota Bay (read more here). Through this partnership, we’ve tagged more than 50 bull sharks with transmitters that are expected to last seven to nine years. At least six of these sharks have been detected on receivers within Sarasota Bay and in the passes connecting the Bay to the Gulf. Most detections occurred at night between June and November — a period that also coincides with when fresh shark bite wounds are most frequently observed on resident dolphins. Some individual sharks have returned to the bay in multiple years, suggesting that the area may be an important seasonal habitat for at least some bull sharks.

In addition, we are also monitoring other shark species — including tiger, sandbar, and dusky sharks — to understand their seasonality and habitat use in the Sarasota area. When these animals leave Sarasota, we can track their wider movements throughout the Gulf and in the Atlantic Ocean via iTAG and FACT, two collaborative regional acoustic telemetry networks. .

Funding for this research has been provided by an anonymous donation to Brookfield Zoo Chicago and Mote Scientific Foundation. Special thanks to Jack Morris, Val Hagan, Dr. Bob Hueter, Dr. Demian Chapman, Capts. Dean Dougherty, Greg Byrd, Pete Hull and Cody Cole (Mote Marine Laboratory), as well as Dr. Jayne Gardiner and Tonya Wiley for their assistance with shark tagging and sampling.

We took these pictures of Mid-Wicket (2094) in 2023. The images above illustrate just how different the same bite can be — and why it’s so difficult to determine the predator. One image shows Mid-Wicket’s left side and the other the right.

Squirt, pictured to the left, is one of our more well-known shark bite cases. This dolphin (F326) was born in 2019 and, during a health assessment in May 2023, we discovered a large healed shark bite wound on the underside of his body. During an ultrasound, we found that the wound actually rearranged his urinary tract. You can read more about that here and read the paper we published about his wound — “Case Report: Shark bite resulting in a urethral obstruction and urinary tract-body wall fistula in a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in Sarasota Bay, Florida” — in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science here.

Passing the Torch to the Next Generation of Dolphin Researchers

After founding the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program and directing it for nearly six decades, Dr. Randy Wells is passing the leadership role to Deputy Director Dr. Katie McHugh.

Dear Friends,

I’m writing today to share news about some changes taking place at the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program. After leading the program for more than five decades, the last 37 of them with Brookfield Zoo Chicago (BZC), I’ve decided to retire from BZC and turn the reigns over to the next generation of leadership.

This transition to the role of Director Emeritus will allow me to continue to do the marine mammal research and conservation I love, while leaving behind the administrative tasks necessary to keep the Program operating. While this transition is certainly a poignant one for me, I’m pleased to be leaving the program’s leadership responsibilities in the capable and experienced hands of Dr. Katie McHugh, who started as an intern with the program in 2000 and will take over my role as BZC’s SDRP Director. I’m also excited to embrace new opportunities that will allow me to get back into the field for the hands-on research that initially brought me to the study of dolphins back in 1970 and catch-up on a list of papers that need writing.

As a 16-year-old kid volunteering to work with Blair Irvine on his study of sharks and dolphins, I could never have imagined how that work would evolve over 56 years, or that the SDRP would often be leading the way in breaking new ground in the understanding of dolphins and their lives. Throughout my time as Director, curiosity has remained a core feature of our research program and training center. And, as with so many research projects, the more we’ve learned about Sarasota Bay dolphins and their lives, the more questions we have.

Even after 56 years, the idea of being able to continue to ask and answer new questions about dolphins remains a thrilling prospect.

Randy Wells overseeing Mote Marine Lab’s first dolphin rehabilitation case in 1973.

I plan to remain actively engaged in the field through my continuing role as a co-founder and board member of the Dolphin Biology Research Institute, as BZC Director Emeritus, as a Scientific Advisor to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, and through collaborations with colleagues around the world.

SDRP began conducting health assessments and tagging of offshore dolphins over the West Florida Shelf in 2022. Atlantic spotted dolphin Eugenie Clark (pictured below), was the first offshore dolphin tagged and was named in honor of the founder of Mote Marine Laboratory, where the SDRP began in 1970. The SDRP has been operated by Brookfield Zoo Chicago (formerly the Chicago Zoological Society) since 1989.

Together, with your support, the SDRP and our colleagues have accomplished much over the years. We have:

• Collectively published more than 400 scientific papers, four books and made more than 1,000 presentations to scientific colleagues and members of the public;
• Mentored 532 college interns, 145 international trainees and 116 graduate students;
• Collected more than 1.2 million dolphin images, identified 6,373 dolphins from across Florida’s west coast, recorded more than 400,000 hours of dolphin vocalizations, rescued 14 dolphins in Sarasota Bay (since 1985) and participated in or led 51 rescue attempts, including mass strandings, elsewhere.

The last three dolphins are released on the last day of health assessments in 2025. During health assessments, SDRP brings together more than 100 veterinarians and researchers gather samples and data for research studies.

I have no doubt that thanks to the highly experienced staff, in combination with the unique natural laboratory setting of Sarasota Bay, the SDRP will continue to be at the forefront of learning and knowledge about dolphins for decades to come.

I hope you will join me in welcoming Katie to her new role and continue to offer her the welcome and heartwarming support you’ve shown me over the years. While you will probably hear from me from time-to-time in this space, I’m happy to hand it over to Katie as she continues to make her own mark on the field.

I would like to thank BZC leadership — Dr. George Rabb, who invited the SDRP to the Zoo in 1989, Dr. Stuart Strahl, and current President and CEO, Dr. Mike Adkesson, along with the BZC Board of Trustees — for their continuing commitment and dedication to the SDRP over the decades. I’d also like to thank you for your interest in, and support of, our research, and for caring about the dolphins.

Here’s to fair winds, following seas and many more years of dolphin discoveries!

Randy Wells

Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.

— Fred Rogers

Meet the 2026 Sarasota Bay Dolphin Calves!

On May 1, 2026, we spotted the first calf of the year. 22-year-old Mom, Keeley (F209), had her sixth documented calf. Keeley is the granddaughter to Rebecca (FB55). Rebecca’s mom, W-2 (FB05), was first identified in 1971. Interestingly, the place we saw Keeley and her new calf was just two miles from where Greatgrandma was first identified! This is a great reminder that Sarasota Bay’s dolphins are long-term residents that inhabit the same areas over generations. (By the way, in case you were wondering, the nicknames Keeley and Rebecca are from the TV show Ted Lasso.)

2026 Dolphin Calves

Our second calf of the season was observed on May 6, 2026, with mom Patch (F227). The calf, 2275, is Patch’s fifth. Patch is the 21-year-old daughter of Pumpkin, (FB09) and the grandcalf of Ms. Mayhem (FB63). The appearance of the season’s new, naive babies are a good reminder for boaters to practice safe boating behaviors — especially in Sarasota Bay’s shallow grassflats.

Did you know that every six minutes, a power boat passes by dolphins in the Bay? Collisions with boats have the potential to injure or even kill dolphins. For instance, Pumpkin and her family are some of the dolphins that have been affected by boats in this area. In 1996, Pumpkin was hit by a boat propeller while swimming with her year-old calf named Pi. The propeller cut deeply into her dorsal fin and she became separated from young Pi for several days. A few years later, Pi and his buddy Noah were also hit by boats, leaving minor injuries on Pi’s dorsal fin and deep cuts along Noah’s side. Fortunately, they survived the accident but Seed, Pi’s younger sister, was not as lucky, and was killed when a boat hit her at the age of 3. Sadly, stories like these are not uncommon, with 1 in 20 dolphins in Sarasota Bay having boat collision scars like those seen on Pi, Pumpkin and Noah.

• Learn more

On May 12, 2026, we documented the third calf of the season. Meet 1655*, shown here with mom, Lily (F165). We first observed Lily as a calf in 1999. Since then, we’ve recorded well over 600 sightings of her. Her own mother, FB75, died during a bad red tide in 2006 after ingesting a fishing lure.

F165’s first calf was born in 2011, but did not survive. Her second, 1652, was born in 2016 and, despite the fact that we observed this calf with shark bites when it was only days old, the calf survived. F165’s third calf, 1653, was born in 2019. In 2023, she gave birth to the first calf of the year, 1654. This year, when we saw her with her newest calf, they were also with 1653 and 1654.

Sadly, we’ve observed F165 several times since our initial observations without her calf, who we now presume is deceased.

On May 18, 2026, we observed Mabel (F197) with her new calf, 1977. 1977 is the fourth calf of 2026.

Mabel was the second calf of a dolphin nicknamed Murphy Brown and she’s also the grandcalf of FB05 — one of the first dolphins catalogued in Sarasota Bay, in 1971. We’ve observed Mabel more than 900 times since her birth in 2003. Today, she’s a mom in her own right:

She had her first calf when she was 9 years old in 2012. That calf, Esther has been sighted more than 600 times since birth and is also a mom to two of her own calves.

• Mabel’s second calf, Gizmo, was born in 2015 and has been observed more than 350 times.
• Her third calf, F291, was born in 2017 and has been observed 100 times.
• Her fourth calf, Ron, has been observed more than 200 times since it was born in 2019..
• Her fifth calf, 1975, has been observed 100 times since its birth in 2022.
• Her sixth calf was unfortunately lost in 2024.
• Her seventh and current calf was first observed on May 21, 2026.

We frequently see Mabel in an area with high boat traffic that includes local recreational boats, rental boats and dolphin tour operations. We encourage all boaters to enjoy dolphins from at least 50 yards away.

• Click here to learn about dolphin-friendly boating techniques.
• Click here to visit Mabel’s page and listen to her signature whistle.

We first observed 2234 on June 6, 2026. This dolphin is the calf of Smart head (F233) and the grandcalf of Low 2 (F225). Grandma was first observed in September 2003.Low 2 was an immigrant from Charlotte Harbor, first seen there in 2003. We then observed her in Sarasota Bay in 2007. She continued to move north and was eventually seen as far as the Manatee River. We have not observed her since February 2025, but we don’t know whether she died or continued her northward outside of the range of our regular surveys.

2214 was first observed June 6, 2026. This calf’s mom is Nellie (F221), who is the seventh calf of CD (FB25), first observed in June 1984.

Nellie’s story is an especially interesting one. In 2010, we discovered her with plastic twine and a metal hook tightly wrapped around her head. A team of about 30 people temporarily captured, disentangled and released her on March 1, 2010. She was nicknamed in honor of Dr. Nélio Barros, who was manager of Mote Marine Laboratory’s Stranding Investigations Program between 2000-2006, and a great friend and colleague of the SDRP. He died in 2010.

2214’s birth shows the larger success of Nellie’s rescue, as this is the fourth calf she has given birth to. It shows that interventions to save individuals with life-threatening anthropogenic — human induced — injuries provide benefits not only to the welfare of those individuals, but also to the stability and growth potential of their local populations.

• Read more here

*Note: Not all new calves survive their first year. After repeated sightings of a mother without her offspring, we presume a calf to be deceased.

A team uses a seine net to capture fish in Sarasota Bay. The fish are released after they are catalogued as part of our prey fish studies, which began in 2004.

Notes from the Lab and Field: Prey Fish Surveys Help Us Understand Dolphins

Did you know that understanding dolphins and their behavior also means studying other species? In addition to studying the sharks of Sarasota Bay and their interactions with the dolphin community, we also conduct seasonal purse-seine catch-and-release fish surveys that help us gain an understanding of the relative abundance of fish in Sarasota Bay and how that abundance impacts dolphins.

We’ve been conducting seasonal prey fish surveys across Sarasota Bay’s shallow seagrass meadows since 2004. In a study led by Elizabeth Berens McCabe, we conduct 10 seine-net sets per month during January-March and 10 per month during June-September. Fish are brought aboard, identified by species, measured and then released alive.

During our January surveys, initial catches indicate typical bay-wide abundances, with sets averaging 125.4 total fish and 95.2 dolphin-prey fish per set. Notably, January’s mean catch was the highest for any January in the past three years. Catches spanned a diverse range of species and sizes: of 1,254 fish examined, 75.9% were identified as dolphin prey, driven largely by high numbers of pinfish (906 individuals). Winter cold fronts and abundant drift algae may have influenced January’s totals.

February’s fish abundance increased by 54.7% month-over-month, with catches averaging 194.2 total fish per set and 160.2 dolphin-prey fish per set. This marks the second-highest February mean catch recorded over the past six years. Of the 1,942 fish captured during the month, 82.4% were identified as dolphin prey — driven largely by pinfish (1,441 individuals). Overall, catches included 33 species and a wide range of size classes. The next round of fish surveys is scheduled for March.

Now in its 23rd year, the dolphin prey fish survey program is supported by the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation.

While conducting the prey surveys, we also gather environmental measurements, including water temperature, depth and salinity and dissolved oxygen, as well as a water sample to check for concentrations of Karenia brevis, the phytoplankton that causes Florida red tide. All of these environmental parameters can impact fish abundance, which in-turn impacts the dolphin community.

• You can read more about what happens when the prey community changes in this story.

A Nighttime Rescue in Crystal River

Capt. Justin Dymond of Florida Bowfishing Adventures in Crystal River contacted Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) in December to report that a dolphin he had been seeing regularly during his nighttime bow-and-arrow fishing charters had line wrapped around its tail fluke. Dymond uses a bright light to attract fish during these charters and a group of dolphins regularly follows his boat for hours, appearing to fish cooperatively with him and often swimming right in front of the bow of his boat.

Personnel from the National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency responsible for overseeing the stewardship of marine mammals in U.S. waters, determined that a remote disentanglement attempt would be appropriate and asked the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program to help.

On the evening of Jan. 23, 2026, SDRP Field Manager and Senior Researcher Aaron Barleycorn and a team from CMA and the University of Florida joined Dymond to attempt to remove the gear remotely from the free-swimming dolphin. Using a long-handled cutting tool, Aaron was able to cut two of the three wraps around where the tail stock meets the fluke, but could not completely remove the gear.

After the cuts were made, the dolphin stayed near the boat, but would not come close enough for the team to make another attempt. The team spent several more hours trying to remove the gear with no success and ended the rescue effort around 10 p.m. The team hoped that they had cut enough of the gear to allow the rest to fall off on its own.

On Feb. 13, CMA staff joined Dymond on a charter, locating the dolphin — CMA2514 — and were delighted to see that the rest of the gear had indeed fallen off! The dolphin appeared to be in good body condition and was behaving normally and CMA will continue to monitor the dolphin in the future. Special thanks to Capt. Dymond for alerting CMA, allowing this dolphin to be freed from entangling line.

We know that one of the main causes of dolphin deaths is related to human actions, with fishing gear entanglement, hooking, or ingestion being the most frequent causes of mortality. Please be dolphin safe! Follow these tips to help keep dolphins healthy:

• Reel in your fishing line if dolphins appear.
• Change locations if dolphins show interest in bait or catch.
• Don’t feed dolphins – it is illegal and trains the dolphins to engage in dangerous behaviors.
• Release catch quietly away from dolphins when and where it is possible to do so without violating any state or federal fishing regulations.
• Check gear and terminal tackle to make sure it won’t break off easily and, if your line does break, be sure to collect anything left behind in mangroves or on docks.
• Use circle and corrodible hooks and don’t use braided fishing line.
• Stay at least 50 yards away from dolphins.
• Stash your trash in a lidded container on your boat until you can get to shore and dispose of it safely in a place where it will not blow back into the water.

Click here to learn more about dolphin-safe fishing

CMA2514 shown here free of the entangling gear.

Notes from the Lab and Field: 2025 Dolphin Community Update

January 2026

Happy New Year! A new year begins, and we have been able to conduct the first of our Sarasota Bay monthly dolphin surveys under excellent conditions, before the arrival of a series of cold fronts with strong winds.

I’m pleased to report that we closed out 2025 with our field teams identifying 90% of the Sarasota dolphin community members in November/December and that, overall during 2025, we documented all of the expected residents. In 2025, we observed a near-record 20 calves born to Sarasota dolphins. Our sightings in November/December included observations of 12 of the 14 remaining 2025 calves, all eight remaining yearlings (born in 2024), and seven of the nine 40-or-older community members. Plus: we observed the two young dolphins we disentangled in 2024 in November/December, and they are doing well.

But 2025 wasn’t all good news for Sarasota Bay dolphins. We lost two male dolphins due to vessel strikes. One was 6-year-old C33A, who died of blunt force trauma likely caused by a boat. The second was F266, also known as “Yogurt,” an 18-year-old who was recovered with extensive deep propeller wounds. The necropsy (animal autopsy) showed that Yogurt had been otherwise healthy. His is an especially troubling case because he is a son of Vespa, part of a lineage well-known to engage in risky interactions with humans such as “patrolling” by fishing boats, waiting for caught or released fish. Two of his younger siblings also died from human-related causes, including entanglement in fishing line and a net. (Watch the video below to learn more about Vespa and her offspring.)

Over the years, we’ve repeatedly seen a variety of interactions with humans that lead to bad outcomes, including:

• Provisioning: Intentionally providing bait, catch, or other items to a dolphin.
• Scavenging: Dolphins take fish or bait discarded by anglers in boats or on piers, when the angler did not intend to feed the dolphin. Instead of eating wild-caught prey, dolphins develop the bad habit of approaching humans.
• Depredation: Dolphins remove caught-fish or bait from fishing lines. This puts the dolphin too close to hook(s) and can lead to the dolphins getting hooked or injured themselves.
• Entangling, ingestion, and hooking: Dolphins can ingest, become entangled in, or hooked by active or discarded fishing gear and line. Entanglements can restrict their movements, ability to fish or escape predators. Entangling lines often cut deeply into the relatively soft tissues of the dolphin’s mouth, fins, and tail, leading to lesions, infection, amputations, and even death. Multi-filament braided fishing line is strong, razor sharp, shaped like a saw blade, and especially harmful.

We know from our five-plus decades of research that dolphin moms pass feeding strategies down to their offspring. If mom has developed a habit of seeking handouts from humans, then it’s more likely her offspring will learn these behaviors, which put them more at risk of injury and/or death.

The only way to lessen the risk is for dolphins’ human neighbors — us — to be more thoughtful on the water. Over the years, we’ve compiled a few simple tips that we offer to help anglers protect our finned neighbors. We ask that you take them to heart and please share them with your friends and human neighbors. A healthy dolphin community depends on you!

Here’s to fair winds, following seas and more dolphin-safe fishing in 2026!

Randy Wells

Conservation Tips for Dolphin-Safe Fishing

• Never feed wild dolphins or discard bait when dolphins are nearby. Feeding dolphins is illegal under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
• Reel in your fishing line if dolphins appear. Relax and enjoy the show until they depart.
• Change locations if dolphins show interest in bait or catch.
• Release catch quietly away from dolphins when and where it is possible to do so without violating any state or federal fishing regulations.
• Check gear and terminal tackle to make sure it won’t break off easily and, if your line does break, be sure to collect anything left behind in mangroves or on docks.
• Use circle and corrodible hooks and avoid braided fishing line.
• Stay at least 50 yards away from dolphins.
• Stash your trash in a lidded container on your boat until you can get to shore and dispose of it safely in a place where it will not blow back into the water. (An old tennis-ball can with a lid is perfect for stashing used line until you return to shore.)