30 December 2015

Mother-calf pair and waves



Striped dolphin mother and calf on a wavy Gulf of Corinth.

(Photos by S. Bonizzoni)

29 December 2015

Maddalena and Giovanni



Maddalena with brother Giovanni approximately 45 years ago, long before they became interested in dolphin biology.

(Photo by Giuseppe Bearzi, Bolzano, Italy)

28 December 2015

Baby common dolphin



Baby common dolphin peeking from behind her mother's dorsal fin.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

27 December 2015

Seasons apart



Silvia, Nina and Giovanni in Galaxidi, Greece, in July 2013... and after today's meeting in Oria, Italy.

(Top photo by Jens Kramer; bottom by Giovanni Bearzi)

Juvenile Tursiops



A juvenile bottlenose dolphin surfaces besides her presumed mother.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

24 December 2015

Christmas dolphin



Christmas dolphin :-)

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

22 December 2015

Simple fun



Striped dolphin playing on the small wave created by a passing ship.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

18 December 2015

17 December 2015

Standing dolphin



Striped dolphin "standing".

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

08 December 2015

Rostra



Striped dolphin rostra appear as the animals start breathing out.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

06 December 2015

Farm dolphins



Bottlenose dolphins near the Galaxidi fish farm.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

04 December 2015

Peeking



Striped dolphin peeking.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

01 December 2015

Twilight



A striped dolphin breaches at twilight, a time when most dolphins start looking for food.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

27 November 2015

Tight



Two striped dolphins surface in a tight formation.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

25 November 2015

Before a jump



Striped dolphin about to break the surface before a jump.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

23 November 2015

Grampus babysitting Delphinus



Risso's dolphin 'Yaya' babysitting a short-beaked common dolphin calf.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

21 November 2015

Biomimetics



This monofin model, a Lunocet Pro intended for free diving, was clearly inspired by cetacean flukes. A persuasive example of biomimetics.

(Photo courtesy of Marco Mardollo, Apnea Academy instructor and Technical Director at Y-40, the world's deepest pool)

20 November 2015

18 November 2015

16 November 2015

Speed



A fast-swimming striped dolphin.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

15 November 2015

Surfing



Striped dolphins surfing the wave of a passing ship.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

14 November 2015

Bay dolphin



Bottlenose dolphin in the Bay of Itea.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

13 November 2015

About to breach



Striped dolphin about to breach.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

12 November 2015

Striped dolphin nearshore



Striped dolphin off the northern coast of the Peloponnese. Striped dolphins are pelagic animals and finding them so close to shore is rather unusual.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

11 November 2015

Silvery dolphins



Silvery striped dolphins socialising near our boat, last September.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

10 November 2015

Tight bottlenoses



A group of bottlenose dolphis surfacing in tight formation in the Bay of Itea. Among them, the most 'resident' of all, nicknamed Codo, a female with abnormal and almost missing flukes (who, however, seems to be doing just fine).

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

09 November 2015

07 November 2015

End of the field season



This year's field research season has ended, but we aim to be back soon. The photo shows a nice gift from our former field assistant Annalucia Cantafaro.

06 November 2015

November sunset



As seen from the Galaxidi field station.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni)

New dorsal fin marking



A fresh new notch has appeared on the dorsal fin of this striped dolphin.

Matching thousands of dorsal fin photos belonging to hundreds of different animals would be hard enough, but it becomes even harder when one is required to consider dorsal fin changes that may have occurred over time. Failure to track evolution of fin markings will result in wrong additions of new individuals in the catalogue, and therefore biased estimates of abundance. One must be very careful.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

05 November 2015

Backlit jump



Two juvenile striped dolphins play in a sunburn summer day.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

04 November 2015

Coastal dolphins



This is about as close as bottlenose dolphins can get to the coast. Well... they do get even closer sometimes.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

November sunrise



Being stuck in Greece due to an ongoing ferry strike let us enjoy fantastic November sunrises.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Galaxidi)

03 November 2015

02 November 2015

First snow



First snow on the Parnassos.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

Can you spot the dolphins?



Bottlenose dolphins aren't easy to spot when they surface amid fish farm cages, buoys and pipelines. Such environment may not look 'natural', but that's where they can manage to find some food.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

01 November 2015

Garfish



A school of garfish Belone belone jumps in terror as bottlenose dolphins approach a fish farm buoy. 

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

31 October 2015

Getting social



Striped dolphins getting social: breaches and much physical contact among group members.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

29 October 2015

Sea turtle stranded in Galaxidi



Today we found a stranded loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta... right in the port of Galaxidi.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

Survey effort in the Gulf of Corinth



While the Gulf of Corinth is a relatively large area (2,400 km2) to be surveyed with small boats, and often wavy, we try to cover it as best we can searching for dolphins and other fauna. Survey effort in this area has reached 34,000 km. The map shows our navigation tracks in years 2011–2015.

For more information about our dolphin research in the Gulf of Corinth, click HERE.

(Photo by G. Bearzi)

28 October 2015

Neither striped nor common



Neither a striped dolphin nor a short-beaked common dolphin: an individual of intermediate pigmentation breaches in the Gulf of Corinth. 

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni)

25 October 2015

Same boat, different catch



In 1973 Argyris Andressakis could still catch big groupers with his rowing wooden boat, right off the port of Galaxidi, Greece.

Fourty-two years later, boat, area and fishing gear have remained the same. However, for Dimitris Andressakis – Argyris' son – catching a grouper has become unimaginable. A small cuttlefish is a more likely catch.

It doesn't take a scientist to notice that baselines, here and elsewhere, have shifted tremendously in just a few decades.

(Top photo courtesy of D. Andressakis, bottom by S. Bonizzoni)

Striped dolphin calf



(Photo by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

24 October 2015

Dolphin mosaic



Teacher Alexandra Kaliva gives to Silvia a beautiful dolphin mosaic made by the school children of Itea.

(Photo by G. Bearzi)

23 October 2015

Dolphins at school



Yesterday Silvia presented our dolphin research to an audience of approximately 110 children at the school of Itea, with much help from teacher Alexandra Kaliva.

(Photos by G. Bearzi)

21 October 2015

Dolphin and inflatable



A striped dolphin surfaces close to our inflatable.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)