On a warm, sunny day in April, biologists David Duffy and Jessica Farrell prepare to motor down the Matanzas River on a small boat to catalog the area’s aquatic life. Ripples signal the river’s lazy flow along Florida’s northeastern coast. Birds fly overhead, some settling onto mangroves occupying the river’s edge. The muddy-brown waters obscure most signs of any life in the river.
But then a pod of bottlenose dolphins appears. The sleek critters break through the water to take a breath as they swim against the current. The team will cross paths with many more of these cetaceans as the boat traverses the river and connecting waterways. A
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