Dolphins are familiar coastal creatures in Beaufort County and seeing the distinctive gray dorsal fins pierce the surface of a local river or creek is not unusual. But a peculiar and spectacular feeding ritual of the most common marine mammal in South Carolina is a worldwide rarity.
Dolphins, lined up side-by-side, charge the shoreline, with their force creating a wave that herds tiny fish like mullet onto mudflats or shorelines. The dolphins then hoist themselves onto land — always on their right sides — where they feast on the stranded fish, briefly stranding themselves in the process before wiggling back into the water.
“Strand feeding” as the phenomenon is known, is employed across region’s plentiful salt marshes. Experts say the coordinated and seemingly choreographed beach landings demonstrate the intelligence and teamwork of dolphins while giving them a competitive edge in the never-ending quest for food. But it’s also a shot in the arm for local ecotourism and a thrill for anybody lucky enough to see it.
“It’s one of the coolest things I think you can see in the Lowcountry,” says Capt. Rob Alexander, the owner of Beaufort Dolphin Adventures. “I don’t think I could show you anything cooler than a group of 2 or 6 dolphins rushing the beach.”
During his years of exploring area waters, Alexander has learned to spot the telltale signs that a strand feeding session might be imminent: Mud skids on the side of a creek, congregating birds and an incoming low tide. Finally, if he spots a dolphin with its eye raised toward the beach, “Dude, I’m getting my cell phone ready. It’s about to happen.”
Sometimes, however, people get too close. A study is now underway to better understand how humans can affect the feeding sessions after reports of harassment at one popular South Carolina strand location visited by more than 10,000 people yearly.
An impressive feeding behavior
Dolphins use strand feeding in just a few places in the world, says Wayne McFee, who heads the Coastal Marine Mammal Assessments Program for NOAA’s National Ocean Service in Charleston.
South America is one. More recently, cleanup crews in Louisiana who were working deep in the salt marsh following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 witnessed dolphins feeding in an unusual manner. The dolphins were probably strand feeding there “forever,” but it had gone unnoticed because of the remote location.
A roughly 300-mile stretch of the coast in the southeastern U.S., from Little River in northern South Carolina to northern Florida, is also a well-documented location for strand feeding, including the ample salt marsh creeks and rivers near the Beaufort County communities of Hilton Head, Bluffton, Beaufort and Port Royal.
“I’ve seen them do it singly, by themselves,” McFee says. “I’ve seen them do it in pairs. I’ve seen them do it in groups of three to six animals. It’s a pretty impressive site.”
The local dolphins are uniquely suited for the unique way of feeding, in which they take advantage of the unique Lowcountry environment.
In 2022, researchers with NOAA and the University of Miami determined that bottlenosed dolphins found close to the shore off South Carolina and much of the east coast were actually a different species than those living in deeper water. The new species, dubbed Tamanend’s bottlenosed dolphin, are smaller than their offshore common bottlenosed counterparts and have spines adapted to navigating the tight spaces of rivers and estuaries like those found in Beaufort County.
Sloped beaches and mudflats are ideal
Locally, strand feeding tends to occur in creeks and rivers that wind through mudflats or near beaches but they must be sloped, McFee says. It can’t happen on a flat surface because the dolphins would beach themselves. As a result, McFee says, strand feeding does not occur on “front beaches.”
However, not all dolphins strand feed, even in areas where the geography is conducive to the practice, McFee says. In populations that do, it’s a learned behavior, with mothers teaching the strategy to calves.
Nobody really knows why some do and some don’t but competition for food probably led to a new hunting strategy, McFee says. Dolphins at some locations in the world, McFee notes, stick their heads in the mud and pick out eels. “They all kind of have different strategies,” he said.
Only the right side
Lowcountry dolphins only strand feed on their right side, says Lauren Rust, executive director of the Charleston-based Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network. “The theory is they do it on the right side so they don’t put so much heavy weight on their heart when they strand feed,” she says.
As a result of their right-side beach landings, researchers have noticed that teeth wear down quicker on that side because of repeated scrapes on the sand and oyster beds, Rust said.
Because the specialized feeding is passed down from mother to calf, it makes it even more rare, says Rust, and probably takes many years to learn. A study is now underway to determine how long it takes for individuals to master the skill, Rust says.
“We’ve watched calves 4 or 5 years (old) who have yet to pick it up,” Rust said.
Low tide is when the action occurs
Strand feeding occurs in shallow water, with the dolphins utilizing twice-daily low and high tides and the resulting massive water fluctuation to their advantage by trapping the fish on a mudflat or beach — or whatever is available. “We’ve seen them push fish up against container ships,” Rust says.
Amber Kuehn, owner of Spartina Marine Education Charters on Hilton Head, says the marsh pluff mud provides a soft landing for strand feeding dolphins. The cushion is especially important for a 600-pound dolphin that heaves itself out of the water onto land. The mud also is conducive to slipping and sliding off of the shoreline.
Kuehn believes the behavior involves more than just feeding. “In my opinion, it’s just a more fun way to go up and down the same buffet line every day,” Kuehn says.
Typically, three or more dolphins are involved, Kuehn says. They rush toward shore, she says, creating a tidal wave that pushes the fish out of the water. The dolphins then lunge onto the shore. They swallow the little fish whole before rolling over and sliding back into the water. “A very exciting 30 seconds,” Kuehn says.
It is organized and even “slightly choreographed,” with the dolphins talking to each other as they prepare to charge toward a shoreline, Kuehn says. It is more likely to happen when juvenile fish are abundant, she says, and won’t happen during high tide, when fish and other critters are hiding in the marsh grass, where there is safety, Kuehn says. In contrast, during low tide, fish are exposed. People go crabbing and cast shrimp nets when the water is low, too, says Kuehn. Put simply, says Kuehn, dolphins are smart.
Not only is strand feeding a big source of food for dolphins, it’s also “super valuable” to ecotourism, Kuehn says. A few local charter boat companies even offer trips in smaller boats that navigate smaller creeks, improving the chances of seeing strand feeding, Kuehn says.
But it’s important to protect the dolphins by keeping your distance, she says. The general recommendation is 150 feet. It is illegal to harass or feed dolphins.
Seeing strand feeding
Over the years, the extraordinary fishing displays by dolphins have drawn national attention from National Geographic, Netflix and The BBC to the beach areas around Hilton Head and Beaufort. Kuehn says celebrated French ocean explorer Jacques Coutsteau even filmed the behavior clear back in the 1980s after it was first discovered in Beaufort County.
To see strand feeding, however, “You have to be at the right place at the right time,” Kuehn says.
If you’re a tourist, probably the only way to have a chance is to hire a charter boat, she says. Residents have a better chance.
“Sometimes locals see it,” Kuehn says, “because we have docks and we go out in our boats.”
Here are two areas strand feeding can sometimes be viewed from shore:
-
Cross Island Boat Landing, located at 68 Helmsway just beneath the Cross Island Parkway on Hilton Head. The landing provides access to Broad Creek and Calibogue Sound. From that location, mudflats are located across the water, Kuehn says.
-
Battery Creek in Port Royal. McFee says NOAA gets many calls from people about dolphins that are “stuck in the mud” underneath Russell Bell Bridge in Port Royal, which crosses Battery Creek. But those dolphins are really strand feeding.
How close is too close?
One notable strand feeding spot that attracts thousands of people each year is located in Captain Sams Inlet between Kiawah and Seabrook islands two hours before and after low tide, north of Beaufort County.
The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, which monitors the area, does not promote it because “unfortunately we’ve had a lot of human interactions,” Rust says. The group records over 11,000 people visits every year. People have been known to walk right up to the dolphins as they are feeding. Some even try to swim with or ride them. “You name it, we’ve probably seen it,” Rust says.
One of the threats to dolphins, a protected species, comes from people disrupting their behaviors, says NOAA’s McFee. If people get too close while they are feeding, he says, the dolphins can be chased away from a food source.
A study is in the works to observe the dolphins at Captain Sams Inlet and how interactions with people affect their feeding. The study was prompted by reports of people harassing the dolphins, McFee said. The research will provide guidance on how far people need to stay away from dolphins to give them a chance to feed. Guidelines are currently in place for recommended distances boats should be from dolphins. There’s not much guidance people can follow for viewing them from land. McFee hopes the study and subsequent guidance will answer the question, “How close is close enough or too close?”
Dolphins are the popular attraction
Alexander, of Beaufort Dolphin Adventures, launched the business two years ago to serve clientele interested in experiencing Beaufort’s wild side like its salt marshes and rivers. The biggest attraction are the local dolphins.
Strand feeding occurs all over Beaufort County, Alexander says. But it tends to occur in smaller to medium sized creeks. One video he took of a mother teaching a juvenile how to strand feed went viral on Instagram. Sometimes, he adds, shallow water feeding and tail slapping get confused with strand feeding. But you’ll know the difference when you see dolphins rushing the beach and sliding up onto the bank with their mouths agape and searching for fish as birds hoping for free meal flutter and squawk overhead.
“I believe strand feeding happens all the time,” Alexander says, “but to be in the right place at the right time and actually to get to see it is a fairly rare occurrence.”
