Porpoising

Striped dolphins 'porpoising'.

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

Tenderness

This striped dolphin mother-calf pair expresses the tenderness of motherhood.

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

Discussing heavy industry impact

At our field station, Dr. Margarita Iatrou, a geologist from the University of Patras, shows to Silvia and Lavinia her research on heavy industry discards in the Gulf of Corinth. Collaboration with Margarita centres around potential impact of heavy metals on dolphins and other marine fauna.

(Photo by G. Bearzi)

Early morning sun

A juvenile bottlenose dolphin closes her/his left eye to avoid the rays of an early morning sun.

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

Breaching in the rain

A striped dolphins breaches under the rain, while the dim light says "summer is over".

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

September rain

Most of today's sighting of striped dolphins was under a September rain. Silvia managed to photo-identify several individuals while Lavinia was holding an umbrella to protect the camera :-)

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

Rush hour

Striped dolphin traffic jam in the Gulf of Corinth: members of a group of about 200 getting tightly clustered around midday.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni)

Farm dolphin

A bottlenose dolphin jumps in the early morning near the Galaxidi Marine Farm.

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

Yaya surfacing

Three moments of a surfacing by the lone Risso's dolphin living in the Gulf of Corinth.

(Photos by S. Bonizzoni)

Following Yaya

Tracking movements of Risso's dolphin "Yaya" in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece.

(Photo by G. Bearzi)

Babysitting grandma

Lone Risso's dolphin "Yaya" was encountered again today, for the fourth time this year, and again she was babysitting a common dolphin calf. A truly good-hearted "grandmother".

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

Dolphins and oil/chemical tanker

Striped dolphins surfacing near 110m-long oil/chemical tanker Archangel One.

A single incident involving a ship carrying dangerous loads has the potential of greatly affecting vulnerable marine fauna living in a semi-enclosed bay such as the Gulf of Corinth.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni)

Early morning

Early morning in the Gulf of Corinth.

(Photo by G. Bearzi)

One more

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

Inflatable and striped dolphin

Silvia and Lavinia on our inflatable during a striped dolphin sighting.

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

Nina goes to France

DBC Research associate Nina Santostasi has been awarded a grant by La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, to attend a 6-month internship at the Biodiversity and Conservation Department at the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) in Montpellier, France. The internship will start in October under the supervision of Dr. Olivier Gimenez, Research Director at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, in the Biodiversity and Conservation Department.

As an intern, Nina will be integrated in the Biostatistics and Population Biology research group, and she will work on the analyses of our photo-identification dataset on different cetacean species living in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece.

In particular, in collaboration with Silvia and Giovanni, she will 1) obtain refined population abundance estimates using capture-recapture statistical models, 2) devise optimal sampling strategies using simulations and statistical power analysis, and 3) build a demographic model for dolphins to assess risk of extinction using Population Viability Analysis.

Congratulations Nina!

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni)

Stark light

A striped dolphin breaches near our inflatable in the stark light of a September afternoon.

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

Lovely calf

A lovely striped dolphin calf with two adults. 

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

Kiwi and her baby

This bottlenose dolphin, nicknamed Kiwi, was photographed in the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago between 2004 and 2007. Since 2009, she has been encountered in the Gulf of Corinth. Yesterday, Kiwi was observed together with this newborn calf.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni)

Into the sun

Juvenile striped dolphins jumping into the sun.

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

Early morning survey

Waking up at 5 is difficult. Leaving the port in the early morning is beautiful.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Galaxidi, Greece)

Looking at you

Striped dolphins looking at the photographer while bowriding.

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

In a social mood

Yesterday, we saw several groups of striped dolphins socializing intensively and performing long leaps while moving in circles.

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

More babysitting by Yaya

Yesterday we had another encounter with Yaya the Risso's dolphin, our third this year.

As usual she was babysitting, but this time it was a striped dolphin's calf (swimming in close contact with Yaya in the photo by S. Bonizzoni).

More waterpainting

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

During a sighting

Silvia and Lavinia during a sighting.

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

Striped dolphin's grace

A striped dolphin's amazing grace.

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

With Chrisoula

Silvia with our friend Chrisoula.

(Photo by G. Bearzi, Galaxidi, Greece)

Two fins in the sunset

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

Close to ma

Staying close to ma, on either side, makes this striped dolphin calf feel protected and safe.

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

Pink peek

A pink-bellied striped dolphin peeks at our boat while socializing with a group member.

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

Close encounter with a shearwater

At his time of the year, hundreds of Scopoli's shearwaters Calonectris diomedea populate the Gulf of Corinth, often associating with schools of Atlantic bonito Sarda sarda feeding at the surface.

During navigation in search for dolphins, it is wonderful to watch shearwaters fly near the inflatable, while they search for prey a few centimeters above the sea surface.

Yesterday one of these birds flew so close that she almost touched the boat with her long wings.

(Photo by S. Bonizzoni)

Where do we go

Lavinia and Silvia on the inflatable, checking a nautical map of the Gulf of Corinth.

(Photo by G. Bearzi)

Double leap

Striped dolphins perform high leaps on the waves created by a passing ship.

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

Dorsal fin changes

The dorsal fin of this striped dolphin evolved dramatically over the past year (September 2014 - August 2015). This case suggests that ripped skin exposing the underlying tissue may result in loss of the fin section which remains exposed.

After one year, the original lesion still hasn't completely healed and the remaining open wounds might result in further fin changes.

Being able of performing regular photoidentification surveys is fundamental to track the evolution of dorsal fin markings, and thus allow for the correct identification of individuals over time.

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

Left eye, right eye

Silvia has the unusual habit of using her left eye to target and frame a subject, instead of the usual right eye. She then keeps her righ eye wide open to track subject movements and be ready to re-point and shoot whenever a dolphin surfaces outside of the frame.

(Top photo by G. Bearzi, bottom by S. Bonizzoni, Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

Early morning calf

A striped dolphin calf leaps in the early morning light.

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

At sea

Silvia, Lavinia and Anke during a sighting.

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