Fraser's Dolphin

The Fraser's Dolphin lives off the shore of Galveston Island. If you are sailing or fishing way off the coast of the island you may see a whole group of them swimming together. The Fraser's Dolphins live in very large groups of 100-500 dolphins and other marine mammals. When a female Fraser's Dolphin has a baby it is about 39 inches long and weighs 40 lbs. However an adult dolphin can be as big as 6 1/2 -8 1/2 feet long and can weigh as much as 350-460 lbs.

Unfortunatly many of these dolphins are being killed by careless humans. Fishermen who use illegal nets and cut them loose in the ocean and dolphins are strangled to death. Another threat to the Frasers Dolphin and all dolphins is plastic. People who are coming in and out of the ship channel throw their plastic and trash into the ocean because they don't want to pay the fee for unloading it onto the dock. Because the Frasers dolphin eats jelly fish they think plastic is jelly fish and they eat the plastic and their stomachs aren't big enough to hold plastic so they suffocate and die.

Another thing that threatens Fraser's dolphins are oil spills. Oil spills make the dolphins sick and cause them to strand. If you find a stranded Frasers dolphin or any marine mammal on the beach immediatly call the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network at 1-800-9MAMMALS. They will tell you how to care for the animal until they come to pick it up. Even if when you find a stranded marine mammal if it is dead still call the stranding network.