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Be a Marine Mammal Hero Year-Round

It’s pupping season and that means pups will be pouring through our hospital doors in need of meals and meds. But did you know you can help not only during pupping season, but year-round?

Yes, as a monthly donor, you will help provide fish meals, meds and care for a marine mammal like Magoo so they can regain their strength and return to their ocean home. Then the next month, you will help another patient. And the next month? You will make it possible again!

Plus, new monthly gifts will be matched up to $1,000 when you sign up by Sunday, February 23.

Be a hero year-round
harbor seal, magoo
two bottlenose dolphins seen from above

New Record of California Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins in Offshore Waters

  • Natural history

Abstract

California coastal bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) comprise a distinct ecotype that typically inhabits waters < 1 km from shore and about 10 to 30 m deep, often to the surf zone (Defran & Weller, 1999; Defran et al., 1999; Bearzi et al., 2009; Perrin et al., 2011). An offshore bottlenose dolphin ecotype is found in deeper waters of California, usually more than a few kilometers from shore to well beyond the continental shelf edge (Defran & Weller, 1999; Bearzi et al., 2009; Perrin et al., 2011; Lowther-Thieleking et al., 2014). The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) manages these ecotypes as separate stocks (Carretta et al., 2017), differentiated by cranial morphology, diet, parasite load (Walker, 1981; Perrin et al., 2011), and genetics (LowtherThieleking et al., 2014). The two forms, however, cannot be reliably identified in the field based on external appearance (Walker, 1981; Leatherwood et al., 1982).


Webber, M.A., Keener, W., Spears, A.C., Cotter, M.P., Lane, R.S., Payne, A.R. and Markowitz, T.M., 2023. New Record of California Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Offshore Waters. Aquatic Mammals, 49(3), pp.241-247.

 

natural history
Tim Markowitz
Marc Webber
Bill Keener
bottlenose dolphins, geographic range, Farallon Island, California coastal dolphins

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