This dolphin hunts fish with ‘net’ made of mud

  • 6 years ago
July 25, 2018 – This bottlenose dolphin near St. Petersburg, Florida is foraging using an unusual technique. In shallow, muddy waters, the dolphin drags its tail in a ring around a school of fish. The resulting “mud ring” disrupts the fish—they jump over the muddy plume and out of the ring. The dolphin attempts to catch the jumping fish, likely mullet.Dolphins in Florida Bay, farther south, use a similar tactic—but their “mud-ring feeding” technique is cooperative, executed by a pod of dolphins. In the cooperative version, one dolphin creates the ring while its pod-mates wait for the fish to jump into their mouths. This dolphin near St. Petersburg, on Florida’s west coast, is foraging alone. Scientists are unsure whether the solo variation is specifically useful in the St. Petersburg habitat, or whether the local dolphins have not yet learned how to cooperatively use this technique to hunt.

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