Wrapping Up a Successful Season!
Written by Stefanie Gazda

NOTE: Even though the research season is over, I intend to periodically update the website as the lab analysis continues. I also encourage you to record your own dolphin sightings through our website.

As I write this I am sitting about 1200 miles from Cedar Key, back up in Boston MA. I am far away from the hot and humid Florida, and instead of sitting on a boat in unrelenting sunshine, I am holed up in my lab, which is over air-conditioned and has no windows. Don’t feel too bad though—though I already miss the dolphins (and people!) of Cedar Key, it is nice being home around friends, family, and pets.

It is impossible to express just how quickly this field season has flown by. It's still hard to believe that we arrived in Cedar Key almost half a year ago, a whole five months. So, how did we do?

We have identified over 300 individual dolphins in Cedar Key from 2001 to the present. Approximately 200 of those dolphins are residents, meaning that they live in the waters surrounding Cedar Key at least most of the year. The other dolphins are transients, and live more offshore and occasionally pass through these waters. Cedar Key dolphins experience a high level of association, meaning that the dolphins form close-knit groups and are frequently seen with the same dolphins time and time again. Certain dolphins even act as hubs when performing different behaviors. For instance Knuckles, a resident dolphin of Cedar Key since at least 2001, is a key player when dolphins are feeding.

We documented the specialized feeding behaviors of Cedar Key dolphins, and where these behaviors were being performed. The famed driver-barrier behavior, where the dolphins round up and confuse the fish (generally mullet) so that they jump out of the water and into the waiting dolphin's mouth, occurs in water less than 3 feet deep and frequently on an outgoing tide. The driver-barrier behavior can be found in Waccassassa Bay, off some of the keys such as North and Seahorse, or in some lucky peoples’ backyards.

My third study goal involved fish collection. Teamed with the very helpful and generous FWC staff, my assistants collected over 900 fish! With certain fish, such as Red Drum or Ladyfish, we filled our quota. Other fish have proven to be more challenging. For instance, we've only seen two 'Common' Snook all season, and none of us realized how big Black Drum can actually be! Crevalle Jack, a fish we have witnessed dolphins eating, also proved hard to come by. But thanks to you, the citizens of Cedar Key, we managed to collect 12 Jack fish! Other fish that have been donated to our research by Cedar Key fishermen include Striped Mullet, White Grunts and Spanish Mackerel. This is very exciting to us, and we certainly couldn't have done it without you.

My final study goal, which included collecting small skin samples from the dolphins, was completed at the very end of August. While in Boston, I will be working in a chemistry lab to determine what exactly dolphins eat, and in what proportions. Since “you are what you eat”, the signatures of the fats in fish will show up in the fat layer of a dolphin, and the more of one fish type, the greater the proportions of the specific fats. Once this is completed I will be able to look at what the dolphins are eating, and if certain close-knit dolphin groups eat different fish than others. For example, dolphins that participate in the driver-barrier feeding technique may eat more mullet than dolphins who do not. While we do know what dolphins eat at the surface, they only spent about 5-10% of their time at the surface, so we don’t know exactly what they are eating underwater. This leg of the research will be carried out over the course of the next year or so. Doing this work will supply the pay off of the greater picture: coming to know and understand the dolphins of Cedar Key.

Because we really can't stress it enough, what we do would not be possible without the support of the Cedar Key community. Whether it's catching us fish, lending a hand with a dead car battery, letting us borrow a boat, helping us launch at the dock, putting up signs, alerting us to dolphin sightings, or providing good conversation, the people of Cedar Key have made this field season an incredible one, and we are incredibly thankful. I also want to thank my assistants: Emily, Ian, and Christina. Without them, this work simply would not have happened.

For those of you that we were not able to see as often as we would have liked, I apologize. This season has been incredibly busy and free time was practically non-existent. However, as I would like to continue doing research in Cedar Key for the rest of my professional career, there will be time in the future.

What's next? With the amount of oil spilled in the Gulf, it is critical that research is conducted as often as possible, so that we can look at long term trends on the health and viability of the dolphin population. Dolphins are a major predator in the area, and are a good indicator of the overall health of the ecosystem. Aside from the concerns about the health of the Gulf of Mexico, there is still so much to learn about this dolphin population. The Cedar Key Dolphin Project is in it for the long haul: we're here to stay.

Thank you again to everyone who made this season so productive and memorable!
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