Atlantic Spotted Dolphins

Use: Surface and Underwater Behaviors

Authors: NA

Methods: NA

Publications/Presentations: NA

Single Individual

Belly up (BUP): Belly fully exposed to surface of water (ventral on surface)

Fluke down (FDO): Flukes are pointed down with respects to the body

Flexing (FLX): Head and tail movements concave and convex, alternately

Fluke up (FUP): Dorsal surface and trailing edge of flukes are pointed up with respect to body

Head & fluke down (HFD): Head and flukes pointing down with respect to the body

Head & fluke up (HFU): Head and fluke pointing up with respect to body

Humping surface (HSF): Snagging at surface: moving dorsal area in and out of the water

Head down (HDO): Head positioned down with respect to the body

Head up (HUP): Head pointed up with respect to the body

Lying on bottom (LOB): Lying flat on the sea floor

Onside (OSD): When swimming, turns body onside (eye to surface) while moving

Rest (RST): Dolphins stationary at surface in horizontal position

Sink (SNK): Slowly move deeper in water column, any position

Sink down (SKD): Vertical orientation, BBS or BBR released- follow to surface

Somersault (SOM): Forward flip underwater

Actions of Individual Dolphin

Breach (BRE): Entire body clears water and lands on lateral side or belly at surface

Barrel roll (BRL): Roll body 360-degrees/ stationary

Bottom grubbing (BTG): Inverted vertically; dolphin rostrum near sea floor; dolphin slightly rotating peduncle first and head follows

Corkscrew (CKW): barrel roll while in forward motion

Defecation (DEF): Dolphin is pooping

Drop (DRP): Drop object such as fish, seaweed, etc.

Feeding (FED): Animal(s) feeding

Bury flukes in sand (FIK): Dolphin actively buries flukes in sand

Fluke stand (FKS): Dolphin vertical w/flukes touching sand

Fluke slap (FLS): Slap flukes at surface of water

Fast surface (FSS): Animal surfaces d=for a quick breath, causing a wake, and dives

Fish toss (FTS): Animal tosses fish from mouth, usually with teeth grasping fish

Glide along bottom (GAB): Dolphin glides over seafloor, swims slowly about 1 ft above sand

Head jerk down (HJD): Single quick deliberate movement of head down

Head jerk (HJE): Single quick deliberate movement of head (to side or diagonally)

Head jerk up (HJU): Single quick deliberate movement of the head up

Head scanning (HSC): Moving head laterally side-to-side (often seen during echolocation)

Interactions between Two or more Dolphins

Jaw clap (JCP): Dolphin opens and closes jaws

Leaping (LPG): Clear water completely, re-entry head first (usually two or more successive leaps)

Multiple breaths (MTB): Several breaths in succession during a surfacing

Pick up object (PIU): Dolphin picks up an object with jaw or pec or dorsal fin or flukes

Pec jerk (PJK): Movement up and down of pectoral fin

Porpoise (PPS): Dives out of water and back in without clearing surface

Regular dive (RGD): No portion of flukes out of water when diving, slower than porpoising

Roll (RLL): Rolling other than barrel roll

Rooster strut (ROO): Dolphin with head out of water and jerks it back while swimming

Move (RSM): Dolphin horizontal and moving horizontally at surface

Sand rubbing (SRB): Rubbing all/part of the body in the sand

Swim to bottom (STB): Dolphin swims toward sea floor at 45¼ angle or more

Approach (APP): One animal approaches another at CSW or SSW

Chase and bite (ATK): One animal chases and bites or hits another

Full body (BOD): Dolphin rolls over the other, with full body contact

Body slam (BSL): One dolphin slams its body into another

Belly to Belly (BTB): Dolphins swimming belly to belly

Bite (BTE): Dolphin bites or rakes teeth on another dolphin

Circle chase (CCH): Dolphins circling each other while swimming fast

Charge (CHG): Fast- speed, direct approach to another dolphin

Chase (CHS): One or more dolphins swiftly following another dolphin(s)

Depart (DEP): One dolphin departs another more than 5 feet

Exchange (EXC): One dolphin gives something to another, e.g., fish, seaweed

Fight (FGT): A chasing, biting, hitting sequence between two or more dolphins

Following (FLW): One animal follows another animal

Head to head circling (HHC): Two dolphins positioned head to head, circling one another

Interrupt (ITR): An interaction between at least two dolphins that is disturbed by other dolphin(s)

Peduncle rub (KRB): One dolphin rubs anotherÕs body part with its peduncle

Nudging (NDG): One dolphin pushes rostrum on another dolphinÕs body part

Push down (PDD): One dolphin pushes another dolphin down (usually with rostrum)

Petting (PET): One dolphin moves pec fin along anotherÕs body part

Play (PLY): Play with people, with bubbles, with seaweed, with dolphins, etc.

Petting/rubbing (PRB): Cannot tell between pet or rub

Push up (PUU): One dolphin pushes another one up (usually with rostrum)

Ram (RAM): One dolphin hits anotherÕs body with its body at fast speed

Rostrum hit (RHT): One dolphin hits another dolphin with rostrum

Rubbing (RUB): One dolphin rubs its body on anotherÕs body with no active movement

Reciprocal nuzzling (RZZ): Dolphins rubbing rostrums against each othersÕ bodies

Fish mouthing or snacking (SCK): Mouthing fish but not eating fish

Synch petting (SPT): Two individuals petting another (third dolphin) simultaneously

Synch breathe (SYB): Two or more individuals synchronously surface and breathe

Fluke hit (THT): One dolphin hits another with its flukes

Genital-oriented Behavior

Dorsal Mount (DSM): One dolphinÕs dorsal fin into genitals of another dolphin

Erection with direction (EOR): Penis oriented towards another dolphin or object

Genital to head (GOH): Genital orientation towards head of another dolphin

Goose (GOS): Rostrum to genital behavior between two dolphins

Group-on-one-sex (GPS): Several dolphins sexually molest a single dolphin

Herding (HRD): Male(s) pursue(s) female(s) sexually

Intromission (INT): Copulation success

Inverted mount (IVM): Male mounting female from a ventral up position

Mutual face to genital rub (MFG): Dolphins rubbing face to genitals on each other

Mount (MNT): One dolphinÕs genital area touches anotherÕs genital area (no intromission)

Melon to genitals (MTG): One dolphin pushes melon against genitals of another dolphin

Pec mount (PMT): One dolphin places pectoral fin into or against anotherÕs genital slit

Socio-sexual (SEX): Activity involving sexual behavior between any two individual dolphins

Synch goose (SGS): Two individuals beak-genital to another simultaneously

Synch mount (SMT): Two individuals mount another simultaneously

Synch roll out (SBR): Two males simultaneously roll ventrally on either side of female

Synch side press (SSP): Two male dolphins side press a female simultaneously

Thrust (THR): In mounting, an individual thrusts body to genitals of another

Vocalization

Burst-pulsed sound (BPS): Burst-pulsed sound, broad-band frequency, short duration

Chirp (CHP): Frequency modulated tone, with narrow bandwidth and short duration

Click train/echolocation (ECC): Series of pulsed sound, a fraction of a second for each click

Pop (POP): Pop-pulse sound, when jaws come together forcefully or from melon

Scream (SCR): High-intensity sequence, broad-band and varying duration

Squawk (SQK): ÒEffort-relatedÓ pulsed sounds, short duration and broad-band

Whistle (WHS): Narrow range, frequency-modulated tone

Bubble displays

Bubble trail (BBT): Thick column of tiny bubbles

Bubble (BBL): Single bubble from blowhole

Bubble ring (BBR): Air ring, which slowly surfaces, from blowhole

Bubble stream (BBS): Several small bubbles produced in a stream

Bubble burst (BBU): Cloud of bubbles produced through blowhole