This is a rather long article with many photographs. It’s a start to finish capture of a Dolphin ‘strand feeding’. A link below reviews stranding.

The first image is the Dolphin moving along the shore towards me and herding a school of fish.

Suddenly the Dolphin attacks the school, and splashing, drives fish towards the sand.


The quick charge and splashing confuses the fish, and photographer. The Dolphin is 500 pounds (227 kg) and throwing water all over. My lens was pulled back as far as I could so I’m not going anywhere.
Below you can see a fish landing on the sand. That wave behind him is a really big predator.

Now fish meets Dolphin.

As you can see the Dolphin pushed up onto the sand to catch the fish.


Now below, photographer meets Dolphin. This was a first for me. An incredible moment, but I was not going to miss any shots so I kept shooting.

Dolphins strand themselves on the right side (in some images I could see rub marks) which helps them roll back into the water.

Here a Pelican comes crashing the party. Birds follow and dive all around the Dolphins. They take advantage of the fish being trapped in the shallows.

Finally, a moment later the Dolphin moves by joining the others out herding more schools of fish.

I have been told most Dolphins don’t strand fish, however a little further down the shore another pod of Dolphins has begun doing it.
Click here for National Geographic info on strand fishing.
Awesome Ted! Its truly like a bolt out of the blue!
It is 🙂 If lucky you see the dorsal fin before they charge. If not the best you can do is look for a disturbance along the water. But when they start…
But when they start… its all go!
Incredible series, thanks for sharing!!!
Thanks Sherwood. One of the highlights of our move to Lowcountry. This is a Photographers heaven 😀