Jan. 26, 2020 - Dolphins

I had my best look yet at some Bottlenose Dolphins when I was photographing at Sikes Cut, the channel between St. George Island and Little St. George Island.
Dolphin Bottlenose Sikes Cut the Plantatation George Island 20200119
There were at least half a dozen dolphins feeding in the channel, but these four individuals seemed to stick together. Perhaps this is a family group, maybe two adults and two juveniles.
Dolphin Bottlenose Sikes Cut the Plantatation George Island 20200119
Most of the time all you can see are the tops of their backs and their fins.
Dolphin Bottlenose Sikes Cut the Plantatation George Island 20200119
In this photo, you can see the blow hole of the dolphin on the right.
Dolphin Bottlenose Sikes Cut the Plantatation George Island 20200119
Dolphins are mammals and need to come to the surface to breathe air. The dolphin with its head above the water has just exhaled through its blow hole and you can see the water spray that resulted.
Dolphin Bottlenose Sikes Cut the Plantatation George Island 20200119
Several of the dolphins had distinctive fin injuries. This one has several notches out of the back of its fin. The front part of the fin looks like it might have been grabbed by a predator with sharp teeth.

UPDATE! I heard from one of my Florida friends that “The scars on the dolphin fins are, for the most part, from mating behavior.” Wow, glad I'm not a dolphin!
Dolphin Bottlenose Sikes Cut the Plantatation George Island 20200119
This dolphin has some scrapes on the front of its fin but very little damage to the back of its fin.
Dolphin Bottlenose Sikes Cut the Plantatation George Island 20200119
The fin on this dolphin looks pretty ragged. I’ll bet that you could start identifying individual dolphins by the condition of their fins.
Dolphin Bottlenose Sikes Cut the Plantatation George Island 20200119

Jan. 26, 2020 - Dolphins

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