Bottle-nosed Dolphin

Tursiops truncatus

This warm-blooded mammal is no fish! Bottle-nosed dolphins travel in large groups called "pods" and feed by corralling large numbers of fish and taking turns feeding.

Bottle-nosed dolphins can often be seen offshore and in bays during the warmer months of March through August.

Adult size: 10 - 13 feet in length
Adult weight: 400 - 800 pounds
Coloration: Dorsal area gray with a lighter colored belly
Distinguishing Characteristics:

• Has a short "bottle-shaped" rostrum called a beak.
• Dorsal fin curved
• Small ear holes located behind the eyes
• Has two flippers and a caudal "fluke"
• Lacks nostrils but has one blowhole on the top of its head to breathe.
• Mouth curves to form a "smile".

Behavior
Habitat: Warm, tropical waters of the world
Diet: Fish, squid, shrimp, and mollusks. In Texas bays, their diet consists mainly of mullet.
Range: Mid-Atlantic to Gulf of Mexico and in Texas bays.
Lifespan: Average is 25 years in the wild. In captivity, average lifespan is 35 years or more.

Use echolocation to find food. The dolphin makes sounds that bounce off of the fish and back to the dolphin.

Life Cycle
Sexual Maturity: Females reach sexual maturity around 10 years of age or sooner. Males reach sexual maturity at about 10 years of age or later.
Breeding Season: Early March to mid May.
Gestation Period: About 12 months
Young: Have one baby called a "calf"; live birth

Over the centuries, man has become increasingly intrigued by the dolphin.

Dolphins are friendly, playful, and most of all, very smart. Their willingness to interact with humans have prompted scientists to try and understand their language (if there is one) and to train them for use in dolphinariums, dolphin "therapy" centers, and use in military maneuvers. It is for these purposes that bottle-nosed dolphins have been captured live for the past 80 years from the Gulf of Mexico.

Today, the numbers of live captures has significantly decreased partly due the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Before this act was passed, dolphins were unintentionally killed by the thousands in tuna fishing nets. Since larger yellowfin tuna travel in large groups with the dolphins, fisherman ended up killing the dolphins when surrounding the tuna with nets. Since 1990, a tuna boycott forced the tuna industry to purchase tuna caught on boats that fished in areas where there were no dolphins.

If the label on a tuna can says "dolphin safe", this is evidence that no dolphins were harmed when the tuna was caught.

Flipper Facts

• Dolphins are warm-blooded mammals that have hair, produce milk, and breathe air like we do.
• A dolphin's forehead is called a 'melon' and its tail fin is called a "fluke".
• Dolphins do not sleep. They take short cat-naps while floating on top of the water.
• A dolphin's flipper, when x-rayed, resembles a human hand!
• Porpoises are different, they have no snouts.
• Dolphins have excellent eyesight and hearing (detecting sounds up to 80 ft. away) but have a poor sense of smell!
• Several "pods" traveling together are called "herds"
• Unlike humans, dolphins control their breathing. If knocked unconscious, they will suffocate.
• Killer whales and man are the dolphin's only enemies. Ironically, the killer whale is also the largest dolphin in the world!
• Many tribes around the world worship the dolphin and consider it sacred.
• The bottle-nosed dolphin is the most common marine mammal found in Texas coastal waters.
• Some dolphins were trained by the military to search for mines at sea.
• "Flipper" was a bottle-nosed dolphin!
• Dolphins are known as cetaceans. Cetaceans evolved from the same mammal as deer, cows, and pigs.
• Most marine mammal strandings are bottle-nosed dolphins.
• In Spanish, the bottle-nosed dolphin is called a "delfin mular".
• Dolphin skin is very similar to human skin, thin and bruises easily.
• A dolphin can stay underwater for about 8 to 15 minutes!
• In a shark attack, dolphins use their beaks to defend themselves often resulting in the death of the shark!
• Dolphins have been clocked up to 30 miles per hour, but normally swim about 5 to 7 miles per hour.

Texas Tales
If you spot a stranded marine mammal on the beach, call the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network at: 1-800-9-MAMMAL. You might save a dolphin's life!

Thanks for the web site: http://204.64.0.99/expltx/eft/gulf/cspecies/dolphin.htm