Gulf World Marine Institute (GWMI) responded to a stranded Risso’s dolphin today in St. George Island State Park.
When the Institute first received the response call for this cetacean it was reported alive, but before the team arrived the dolphin had passed. The GWMI stranding team retrieved the Risso’s dolphin to proceed with performing a necropsy (animal autopsy) at Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Panama City. The samples taken from the necropsy will then be sent to National Marine Fisheries Service in Miami to determine why this dolphin stranded.
Risso’s dolphin’s habitat is broad; they are known to migrate from temperate to tropical waters worldwide. There are populations of Risso’s in the Gulf of Mexico but they are pelagic (species found offshore) so this is why this sighting is so rare. Most of the time beachgoers along the panhandle will observe coastal dolphin species which include the Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, spotted dolphins and spinner dolphins. Unlike bottlenose dolphins, Risso’s dolphins have a distinct blunt head and no rostrum or beak. They can reach up to 10-12 feet in length and have light grey coloration with dark appendages.
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