Where do Dolphins Hang out on the Space Coast? The best place to see bottlenose dolphins is on the waters of the Indian River Lagoon. The Indian River Lagoon has a variety of flora and fauna, which includes sea grasses, fish, and other marine mammals.
What kind of dolphins are in the Indian River?
More than 1,000 bottlenose dolphins live in the Indian River Lagoon year-round. The 156-mile-long lagoon has only a handful of openings to the ocean and numerous small rivers, creeks and canals that release freshwater into the estuary.
What animals live in the Indian River Lagoon?
What wildlife will you see in the Indian River lagoon?
- Dolphins. Dolphins are common and easy to spot around the river estuary, coast, and lagoon. …
- Nurse Sharks. …
- Sea Turtles. …
- Snowy Egrets. …
- Great Blue Herons. …
- Roseate Spoonbills. …
- Brown Pelicans. …
- Tarpon.
Are there porpoises in the Indian River Lagoon?
Large pods of wild dolphin, known more appropriately as porpoises, have been spotted many times this week in the warm waters of the Indian River Lagoon and our Atlantic Ocean.
What lives in the Indian River?
These sea grass communities provide spawning, nursery, and foraging habitat for many aquatic species, including spotted sea trout, redfish (red drum), snook, tarpon, mullet, sheepshead, pompano, seahorses, blue crabs, hermit crabs, pink shrimp, scallops, clams, marine worms, marine snails, and other crustaceans.
What do Indian River dolphins eat?
The Ganges River dolphin has a carnivorous diet which includes a large variety of fish and invertebrate animals; perhaps it is also capable of consuming birds and turtles. These are some of their usual prey: – Common carp. – Gobio.
Are river dolphins in Florida?
Along the Florida east coast, the two big dolphin hot spots are Central Florida’s Indian River Lagoon and Jacksonville’s St. Johns River. Five times more bottlenose dolphins live near Jacksonville than anyplace in between. We don’t really know why.
Is it safe to swim in the Indian River Lagoon?
Florida Health Department lifts bacteria warning at lagoon at Jaycee Park in Fort Pierce. It’s safe to swim in the Indian River Lagoon at Jaycee Park in Fort Pierce again. … Potential health risks for people who ingest or come in contact with the water include upset stomach, diarrhea, eye irritation and skin rashes.
Are there alligators in the Indian River?
The Indian River is not actually a river at all.
You get a mix of salt and fresh-water birds and wildlife in the lagoon. Dolphins, pelicans and manta rays stay in the saltier water, and manatees, alligators and otters stay mostly in the fresh water.
What’s wrong with the Indian River Lagoon?
There is an ecological crisis in Indian River Lagoon. There is an ecological crisis in Indian River Lagoon. Large quantities of water with high levels of nutrient pollution from Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie Basin are being discharged to tide, leading to toxic algae blooms in the Lagoon’s waters.
Are there whales in the Indian River in Florida?
The whale, named Clipper, won many hearts in 2016 when she swam into the Indian River Lagoon with her calf. … The whales can reach 50 feet long and weigh 70 tons. They return to the waters off Central Florida every winter to bear their young, but they are losing ground to their worst enemy: humankind.
Is the Indian River saltwater or freshwater?
The Indian River is not a river at all, but, more precisely, an estuary and a lagoon. It is a place where saltwater (from the ocean) and freshwater (from the mainland) meet to form brackish water. The saltwater comes from the ocean through inlets like the Sebastian Inlet.
Are dolphins in Florida?
Usually in Florida both names refer to the Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates), the species commonly found along Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts. … Dolphins are gray with a lighter underside. They can live to the age of thirty and most are six- to eight-feet in length.
Why is the Indian River Lagoon Brown?
The Indian River Lagoon algae are species of brown and red algae that are called ‘drift algae’. They are called drift algae because they drift along the bottom, moved by wind and currents, like tumbleweeds. These species of drift algae have always been relatively common in winter months.
What fish live in Indian River Lagoon?
The Indian River lagoon system is a fantastic place to fish year round. Several of the most sought after game fish can be caught here, including Snook, Trout, Redfish, Tarpon, Flounder and Sharks.
Is the Indian River Lagoon man made?
How deep is the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary? The brackish water lagoons within the national estuary average 4ft in depth with large seagrass flats running 2ft and less in depth. Man-made adaptations such as dredged canals, marinas, and navigation channels are maintained at deeper depths.