The public website offers live hydrophone audio, profiles of more than 100 individually identified dolphins(Image credit: Sarasota Bay Listening Network)
The website brings the Sarasota Bay Listening Network (SBLN) to the public. Led by SDRP, SBLN is a collaborative passive acoustic monitoring program that uses hydrophones (underwater microphones) at 20 shore-based listening stations to continuously record underwater sounds in and around the Sarasota Bay estuary. The network has collected more than 500,000 hours of acoustic recordings since 2017, capturing sounds of bottlenose dolphins, manatees, fish, and invertebrates, along with vessel traffic, weather, and other features of the bay soundscape.
Visitors can click through a map of the bay, listen live to underwater audio, and get to know individual dolphins. The website features profiles for more than 100 individuals that can be acoustically identified by the SBLN in near-real time via their individually-specific signature whistle “names.” The profiles include recent acoustic detections that can be viewed and listened to, photos, fun facts, links to relatives’ profiles, and a map showing where individuals have recently been detected. Drawing on decades of SDRP research, the new SBLN website opens a more personal window into marine life…