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Fins to Feather

by Scarlet Colley - May - 2003

The bottlenose dolphins of the Laguna Madre Bay are fishatarians. They love to eat fish. They love to catch fish; they love to play with fish. They can dine on the wonderful variety of fish that thrive in the bay waters. They are great fisherman and they can’t go to a diner if they don’t catch anything. If they don’t catch any fish they go hungry and we all know what it feels like to be hungry. The dolphins learn very young from their mothers and grandmothers which fish are for eating and which are just to play with. They use their echo location to find the fish in the murky water or under the sand or mud. They guite often can be seen feeding in a group rounding up the fish in a ball and then plowing thru it grabbing what they can. They seem to have different techniques for different fish very much like we do when we go fishing.

We see them feeding Mullet by rounding them up in group and we have seen them chasing fish up to the surface and then grabbing them. They will play with a flounder, tossing it up in the air a few times before they swallow it whole. We have seen them bite Sheepshead in two pieces leaving one piece to float on the surface and then grabbing it. We have seen them toss Ribbon fish and pull them in two with each other to share a meal. We have seen them share a Red fish with each other and watched them toss a king fish around too big to eat but fun to play with.

The dolphins are like we are when they are eating. They don’t want to be disturbed and teach their babies that they must finish eating before they can play. The young dolphins learn what is good to eat and what is not from their mothers and other dolphins in the group. They learn not to play with sting rays and we have watched them toss Moray eels around just for the fun of it. They will snack on little bait fish like Menhaden and Spanish Sardines. They probably never play with Hardheads or the spiny Burr fish or try to eat one. So they have to learn what is good to eat and what isn’t in their water world just like we have to in our world.

Filming and documenting our wild dolphins of South Padre has given us wonderful adventures with them and an opportunity to see their world and how unique and fascinating it is. We have named them and learned their places in their families. Each group has its own Matriarch and they play a very important role in teaching the next generation how to live safe and healthy. They are more like us and our families than we can ever imagine and share the emotions of intelligent creatures. They are truly a joy to be with.

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