Echo and Misha Update: Fifteen years back in the wild
By Kim Bassos-Hull, MSc, SDRP Research Associaten

It has been 15 years since Echo and Misha were returned to the wild in their native Tampa Bay waters after spending two years at a research laboratory in California. Both dolphins were the subjects of a unique two-part scientific experiment. Echo and Misha were initially collected in Tampa Bay in July 1988 and spent two years at the University of California at Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Laboratory where researchers studied their echolocation processing abilities and behavior patterns. Then, as planned prior to collection, on 6 October 1990 they were released back into Tampa Bay after a transition process in a seapen at Mote Marine Laboratory. During intensive monitoring during the first year following their release, both Echo and Misha were observed feeding, interacting with other local dolphins, and in general displaying typical behavioral, ranging, and social association patterns, as well as having excellent body condition.

Echo and Misha split up after the first few months back in the wild but researchers have continued to observe both dolphins through opportunistic sightings. Misha has been sighted on 70 occasions since release along the southeast coastline of Tampa Bay. During Misha’s most recent sighting on 16 August 2005 in the Manatee River (southeastern Tampa Bay), he was observed with longtime associate, KATT, and a smaller individual, BOXR, that is sometimes seen in Sarasota Bay. Misha and KATT have been sighted together 14 times since 1991 and they have been together in every sighting since 1999, so perhaps we are documenting the formation of a male pair. Echo has been sighted 55 times since release, with many of the more recent sightings contributed by the Eckerd College Dolphin Research Program from the Boca Ciega region (western part) of Tampa Bay. Echo’s most recent sighting, by the SDRP Tampa Bay biopsy sampling team, was on 20 August 2003, to the east of Boca Ciega Bay. With plans to conduct more survey effort in Tampa Bay over the next few years we hope to keep tabs on these two special dolphins.