Scarface, named for a slab of dark pigment down its right cheek, flips backwards against the water, showing off its tender chest gleaming white against the sea-green waters. The dab of yellow hanging off the left pectoral fin is a fishing lure attached to monofilament line, resulting in an insidious snare around the fin.
Who doesn't secretly wish for something fascinating and memorable for their birthday? The problem is, we sometimes get our wish. Then we learn to be specific.
This year's birthday, I got my wish: Something fascinating and memorable. Ultimately, though, it wasn't what I wanted at all.
We celebrated by boat camping, when we spend the night in our boat at sea. We anchor in a likely spot and fall asleep enveloped in the sensations of nature. Stretched out on the deck, boat campers luxuriate under light blankets of rich night air and watch the blue-black ceiling for shooting stars, literally rocked to sleep.
There is even an element of danger sufficient for the suburbanite since the seas could turn during the night.
As if stars and sway weren't enough, we had tickets to a concert. We lowered an underwater microphone (hydrophone) into the inky waters and dozed off to indescribable maritime music. The seas play a lumpy symphony of clumps and grunts, squeaks and shrieks, whines and whistles.
The whistles come from dolphins trying to stay in touch with each other, which animal behaviorists call contact calls. Social animals make contact calls. Dolphins whistling to each other across dark seas are like separated hikers whistling across the still forest.
A nearby whistle pierced the water. Moments later, an answering whistle came from far in the distance.
These nighttime whistles tingle your spine. You enter the pitch, shuddering, as you imagine living half your life in thick darkness full of food and danger. Water doesn't seem so alien during the day. But at night, it's nightmare fodder for terra firma folk. It's what you don't see coming that gets you.
The next day was stunning, even more memorable for our slow stroll across emerald smooth seas with a traveling troop of males, mothers and kids. The calves were free to do what they do best - play. As the adults swam behind, the calves raced ahead to wrestle. They shot past the surface in spyhops and dropped back on each other, pectoral fins to the air. Delighted, we watched entranced until it was time to dock for birthday brunch.
I went over the pictures with fascination. The morning parade was 'field pay,' the reward for everything we spend to do research.
My favorite was a picture of Scarface, named for a slab of dark pigment down its right cheek, flipping backwards against the water. Its tender chest gleamed white against the sea-green waters. Its capable little pectoral fins, mittens of neatly-nestled arm bones from shoulder to fingertips, were frozen in a parallel salute.
Wait. A dab of yellow hung off the left pectoral fin. Oh no. A fishing lure and line made an insidious snare around the fin. It had begun its sinister severing like a wire slowly detaching your arm, slicing a little more with each movement.
This is also the horror of entangled shore birds. Monofilament entanglement is the key killer of our spectacular brown pelicans. It prompts Annual Monofilament Clean-ups sponsored by Tampa Bay Watch and Audubon of Florida.
Entangled animals are sentenced to slow and horrible deaths. It is a crime to inflict pain and suffering on another person. Aren't we responsible for the welfare of marine creatures as well?
Scarface and its mother Front Slash only swim here intermittently. It took 5 months to find out what happened next.
Late September, Scarface swam with our newest mother Face and her tiny shiny Baby Face along the skirts of sand surrounding a donut-shaped mangrove stand. Again older calves cavorted, free of adult obligations. A fortunate body slap revealed Scarface's story. Lure and line were gone - this time. I could tell you many stories without this happy ending. Scarface will always sport the scar.
When I'd wished for a fascinating and memorable birthday, I forgot to specify something not morbidly fascinating or painfully memorable. The dolphins here are as powerful a lure as the fabulous Florida fishing, birds and sunshine. To stay in business, we must all undertake our adult obligations for keeping the waters safe.
Dr. Weaver studies wild dolphins under federal permit GA1088-1815, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Contact her at www.dazzlingdolphins.com.
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