Nocturnal feeding of Atlantic spotted dolphins ( Stenella frontalis ) in the Bahamas

The foraging habits of small delphinids, including the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus), and the spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris), and others have been documented (Leatherwood 1975; W€ursig and W€ursig 1980; Norris et al. 1994; Young and Cockcroft 1994, 1995; Steiner 1995; Barros andWells 1998; Vaughan et al. 2007). However, reports on the feeding habits of free-ranging spotted dolphins (Stenella sp.) are scarce (Bernard and Hohn 1989; Richard and Barbeau 1994; Fertl and W€ursig 1995; Herzing 1996, 2004). Perrin et al. (1973) conducted stomach content analysis on spinner dolphins and pantropical spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata) to identify preferred prey species and found evidence of specialization in prey choices and foraging patterns. Nocturnal feeding by spotted dolphins (Stenella sp.) in the Gulf of Mexico was described in 1994 by Richard and Barbeau but it was unclear whether the pantropical or Atlantic (Stenella frontalis) species was observed. On the shallow banks of the Bahamas, a resident community of over 200 individually identifiable Atlantic spotted dolphins (S. frontalis) has been studied extensively for over two decades from May through September every year (Herzing 1996, 1997; Herzing and Johnson 1997; Elliser and Herzing 2012). These dolphins have been observed on the shallow sandbank during daytime hours feeding on a variety of prey items including both burrowing and schooling fish (Families: Bothidae, Clinidae, Labridae, Hemiramphidae, Exocoetidae; see Herzing 1996). Malinowski (2011) has additionally described the diurnal prey species of both Atlantic spotted dolphins and bottlenose dolphins in this area. A variety of hunting tactics, by prey type and