Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) photographic identification catalog collected for mark-recapture abundance estimation and biological sampling from small boats in Choctawhatchee Bay, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, from 2007-07-24 to 2007-08-30 (NCEI Accession 0237742)

The NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center conducted a common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) photo-identification mark-recapture and biological sampling project in Choctawhatchee Bay, Florida from 24 July to 30 August in 2007. A model-averaged estimate of the superpopulation of bottlenose dolphins in and around Choctawhatchee Bay was 232 (SE = 13) animals. Estimated resident abundance was 179 (SE = 8), which was lower than the number of unique animals encountered (n=188). This data collection includes dorsal fin photographs and sighting histories for unique photo-identified individual dolphins, including information about spatial distribution, mark characteristics, biological samples obtained, and GIS data such as survey track and waypoint files.