Deeper Look at Dolphins.

The Florida Aquarium is launching a dolphin tour with a research twist. Customers on the aquarium's new 64-foot catamaran, the Bay Spirit, will photograph and help build a family album of bottlenose dolphins in Tampa Bay. The pictures will go into a catalog that will identify each dolphin seen between the Port of Tampa and the mouth of the Alafia River. Each sighting will add information about individuals and the population as a whole.

The goal of this project is to answer questions such as how many dolphins live in the area and how many just visit, whether there are locations especially favored by mother-and-calf groups, what an individual animal's range is and which dolphins are related to each other. Researchers at Eckerd College's Dolphin Project have identified about 500 dolphins in Boca Ciega Bay. The Bay Spirit catalog will extend that research to the rest of Tampa Bay. Even though bottlenose dolphins are not endangered, studying them can offer important insights into their endangered relatives. [Adapted from an article by Linda Gibson, St. Petersburg Times]