Hi Emily,

This behavior is quite common in Santa Monica Bay even if sea lions usually forage more with common dolphins than bottlenose dolphins in this area. I wrote a publication about sea lion and dolphin aggregations during feeding activities in the bay back in 2006 entitled:

Bearzi, M. 2006. California sea lions use dolphins to locate food. Journal of Mammalogy 87(3):606–617.

I also have photos and videos of these animals feeding together on sardines or anchovies.

You can download the PDF of the publication from the Ocean Conservation website at http://www.oceanconservation.org/research/publications.htm

Please, feel free to share this information with any Marmam member.

Sincerely,

Maddalena Bearzi


Maddalena Bearzi, Ph.D.
Ocean Conservation Society, President
P.O. Box 12860
Marina del Rey, CA 90295 - USA
ph.310.8225205, fax 310.8225729
mbearzi@earthlink.net
http://www.oceanconservation.org