THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050470
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 74 lines
MAP
Just past the Narrows separating Linkhorn and Broad bays, a gray dorsal fin sliced the surface. There it was, a young bottlenose dolphin, at the wrong place at the wrong time.
This errant dolphin should have gone south with its group in early fall, but for some reason unknown to science has elected to spend the winter in the relatively cold waters and scarce food supply of Broad Bay.
Tuesday afternoon, scientists from the Virginia Marine Science Museum's Stranding Center went out by boat to check on it and determined the dolphin, probably a male, is apparently holding its own.
``His skin looks shiny and smooth,'' said Robert George, a Gloucester veterinarian who works for the museum, watching the animal surface. ``If he was not getting enough food, there'd be a skinny place on each side of the dorsal fin, but it's barrel-round.''
Nor did the dolphin show any signs of frost bite, a scaling or crusting near the fin, George said.
The dolphin was sighted in late fall, but the expectation was it would soon head south for warmer water and a greater supply of food.
But this visitor has found Broad Bay perfectly hospitable, and apparently will spend the rest of the winter there.
``I don't think anyone knows yet why these animals get in this particular bay and don't leave,'' said Mark Swingle, a curator at the museum and head of the Stranding Center. ``It's still a mystery.''
It is not the first time a dolphin has been spotted in the bay in winter, but if this one survives, it will be the first the museum has monitored through the season.
``This is the time of year when food is at its lowest, but we see fish-eating birds out here year-round, so it must be plentiful enough,'' Swingle said, easing forward on the small boat's throttle.
``We're really looking at the next four to six weeks being the critical time,'' he said.
Fortunately, it's been a mild winter so far, with water temperatures remaining in the moderate range.
On Tuesday, Marianne Lee, a veterinary technician who works with George, measured the temperature near the sighting at about 46 degrees.
With the boat at idle, the dolphin came up to observe the observers, then commenced its pattern of diving and surfacing nearby: one long, then several short dives.
With the help of counterparts in other states, the museum follows the migration of dolphins by photographing signature marks on their fins.
It is generally thought they go all the way to Florida to winter, but Swingle says the evidence points to their going no farther than the ocean just south of Cape Hatteras.
``Whether it's a food-driven thing or temperature, we're not sure, but it's probably a combination of both,'' he said.
Only as a last-ditch measure would the Stranding Center try to move the animal, because it would be dangerous and stressful to the dolphin.
If the dolphin can make it through the next several weeks, it ought to be able to resume its normal migratory pattern next fall - if it doesn't elect to make Broad Bay a permanent home.
Museum officials stress that people should not attempt to approach or feed the dolphin. Contact with humans can be stressful. Human food is not part of the dolphin's diet, and dependency is not good for its long-term survival.
``If they want to help, the important thing is to let us know if they see it,'' Swingle said. The number for the Stranding Center is 437-4961; the museum's number is 437-4949. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot
``His skin looks shiny and smooth,'' said Robert George, a
veterinarian for the Virginia Marine Science Museum.