In 2019, a pair of bottlenose dolphins in the Caribbean—a mother and her calf—was filmed in the Chetumal-Corozal Bay in northern Belize using mud rings to catch fish.

This method of catching fish was first observed and documented in several parts of Florida by Stefanie Gazda, a researcher from University of Florida in 2005.

In this hunting strategy, one of the dolphins swims down to the seabed and uses their tail to stir up plumes of mud in a ring-shaped configuration. The loosened mud raises and forms a barrier that traps and corrals fish within.

The standard of care for many diving illnesses is recompression. Treatment delay is one of the most significant risk factors for a negative outcome when treating divers with decompression sickness or arterial gas embolism. Hence, an injured diver must be brought to the most appropriate, available treatment facility with as little delay as possible.