Distribution in Texas. Bottlenose dolphins are distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate waters. In the western North Atlantic, these dolphins occur as far north as Nova Scotia but are most common in coastal waters from New England to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and south to Venezuela. This is the most common cetacean of the Gulf of Mexico and along the Texas coast. Bottlenose dolphins may be seen in groups numbering up to several hundred but smaller social units of two to 15 are more common.
Group size is affected by habitat structure and tends to increase with water depth.
Group members interact closely and are highly cooperative in feeding, protective, and nursery activities. These dolphins make numerous sounds and are probably both good echolocators and highly communicative. Bottlenose dolphins eat a wide variety of food items depending on what is available and abundant at a given time. In Texas waters they eat fishes including tarpon, sailfish, sharks, speckled trout, pike, rays, mullet, and catfish. They are also known to eat anchovies, menhaden, minnows, shrimp, and eel.