Description of a Unique Solitary Feeding Strategy Observed in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Biloxi Marsh, Louisiana

Abstract

Bottlenose dolphins’ (Tursiops truncatus) foraging strategies in the Biloxi Marsh have received little attention when compared with other comparable habitats in the southeastern United States. Previous reports of dolphin foraging in this region have included sophisticated strategies such as strand feeding but have not included a detailed analysis of the observed behavior. Dolphins were observed performing a unique solitary foraging strategy, termed marsh bank feeding. Although this behavior was observed to occasionally result in stranding upon the marsh bank, it is argued here that the observed behavior is fundamentally different than the definitions for strand feeding, as well as other prominent shallow water foraging strategies. Video footage resulting from observations made between 2013 and 2019 were analyzed in order to establish the components of the behavior, enabling a detailed comparison to other dolphin foraging strategies.