Out on the gulf today, we saw quite a large number of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus). They’re a widespread and very versatile species, related both to the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and often held in captivity for “swim-with” programs, exhibitions, and tricks. Smaller and more slender than their common cousins, they also often have spots on their ventral (under) side.

This group was foraging, pausing at the surface (known to marine mammal researchers as “logging”) and then diving deep, possibly surfacing with fish- we saw at least one successful catch, but part of the problem/draw of marine science is that so much can’t easily be known. They could be doing pretty much anything down there, and we have only guesses and glimpses of dolphin behavior. All the more interesting, and all the more challenging for researchers!

We, too, foraged for our dinner tonight. And by “foraged” I mean that I made fried rice. Team Sousa (currently me, Tim, and Kaja on the official roster) trade off cooking responsibilities, and after a long day in the field- another sun-up to sun-down sort of day- throwing some comfort food together in a single pan was exactly what I wanted. Data entry complete, blog complete, stomach full, goodnight moon and goodnight blogosphere.