#jaydoesresearch

[jaydoesresearch]

Dolphins across the planet have varying feeding styles. Dolphins in Mississippi have learned to take advantage of nearby shrimp or pogie boats to snag an easy meal!

[merciresolution]

pspsps if you guys wanna see what i do for a living, you should follow my new sideblog

@jaydoesresearch

[jaydoesresearch]

Meme time!

Original

[jaydoesresearch]

ID#1500 “Crumble” and ID#0279 “Red_Red” frequently visit Bayou Bernard, including the canal that runs right beside IMMS! These two have a long history with our Research Team, and in their most recent sighting, both were seen with new calves! Crumble’s appeared to be less than 5 months old, and Red_Red’s was no more than a week old. Red_Red did an excellent job attempting to keep her new baby hidden from our Research Crew- you can barely see it poking out from behind her in our photographs!

Crumble has plenty of experience raising calves, with at least three successful pregnancies since 2012. On the other hand, this is Red_Red’s first documented calf! Hopefully Crumble is willing to share some of her parenting secrets with her. Dolphin calves don’t sleep in their first month of life, which means their moms can’t rest either!

[jaydoesresearch]

YEET

[jaydoesresearch]

Spoonbill Collection!

It's uncommon for us to see these guys, but we've been lucky enough to come across nesting grounds along our dolphin photo-ID routes!

[jaydoesresearch]

New year, new watermark!

Hopefully I'll be a bit more active in 2024. I still have plenty of photos to share, and I'm always taking more!

[jaydoesresearch]

Three years of doing this.

Dolphins are still so cool.

[jaydoesresearch]

Meme from the minds of dolphin research.

Baby (dolphin) wrinkles.

[jaydoesresearch]

Temperatures are (finally!) cooling down, which we're likely to less fewer and fewer dolphins during our field surveys!

Past studies have shown some seasonal variation within the Mississippi Sound population, with more dolphins present in warmer months than in colder ones. It's possible the dolphins move elsewhere to avoid suppressed immune responses from the cold, or they could be following the movements of their prey. It's also possible they could simply dislike chilly waters!

Here's a publication if you'd like to learn more!

[jaydoesresearch]

I've got some famous friends you've probably never heard of But in the Mississippi Sound, our crowd is second to none

The Mississippi Sound is home to one of the largest populations of Bottlenose Dolphins in the United States! It's also one of the most densely-populated stocks in the northern Gulf of Mexico!

[jaydoesresearch]

I'll watch the night turn light blue But it's not the same without you Because it takes two to whisper quietly

One of the nice things about being able to assign common names to dolphins is naming them in honor of deceased friends and family. 💙

[jaydoesresearch]

Expect the unexpected.

Including two dolphins randomly breaching beside the boat.

[jaydoesresearch]

I am delighted to share Dolphin #4164 “Katie Irvin” has been resighted after a seven year absence! I was blessed to be one of the researchers at IMMS documenting her return to Biloxi Marsh, and to our joy, she returned with a calf by her side! We suspect this calf is between six months to one year old. Despite some light lesions on them, both dolphins appeared in good health. IMMS allowed me to share these photos that were taken as part of their on-going photo identification study.

I named “Katie Irvin” back in December 2021 to honor my childhood friend after her passing. It’s absolutely incredible for me to witness her namesake thriving in her natural environment. Biloxi Marsh dolphins face many threats, from entanglement in crab traps to freshwater toxicity, but “Katie Irvin” has proven to be a strong and resilient dolphin. At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, it is our goal to study and protect these wonderful animals, and I am honored to play a role in that.

Photos are courtesy of IMMS.

[jaydoesresearch]

My new watermark had to come from one of my favorite photos. I captured this on my first trip using our team's new Canon R5 camera, affectionately called "The Jesus Cam" at the time. The trip alone was incredibly fun, with social dolphins and goofy commentary from our boat, but the photo quality was such an improvement over our old ones.

This dolphin in particular is occasionally seen by the barrier islands, as evident by the tassel barnacles (xenobalanus) on his fins. He was also one of the first dolphins I met by the islands while I was an intern!

His name? Sans Undertale.

[jaydoesresearch]

Back in April, my teammates and I encountered a very special dolphin!  Meet Everglades, or as she was originally designated “ID number 49,” due to the numbers on her fin and body from over 40 years ago! 

In Dr. Moby Solangi’s 1983 Dolphin Health Assessment and Population Study, we have learned that Everglades was marked with “49” on her fin and “649” on her body in late 1982 near Cat Island.  Freezemarking dolphins was not an uncommon practice back then, but today, photo-ID accomplishes similar goals while being far less invasive.

Everglades was approximately 3 years old at the time of her marking, so that places her between 44-45 years of age today!  Since our photo-ID project began, our Researchers have identified about 20 of her associates, including Inigo Montoya, pictured left.  This is one example of our photo-ID program in action.