September 22, 2026, 3:22 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
Instead of eating a fish, the dolphin Bubbles prefers to chase its prey until it vomits its stomach contents. The bottlenose dolphin then quickly grabs the fish’s stomach contents and lets the fish escape. Researchers have observed this highly unusual behavior for several years. Their recordings could be one of the first direct pieces of evidence of food theft by dolphins.
Dolphin Bubbles Specifically Chooses a Fish
Bubbles lives off Lady Elliot Island at the southern Great Barrier Reef in Australia. As early as 2017, locals reported his unusual hunting technique. Between 2021 and 2025, researchers filmed the male bottlenose dolphin with underwater cameras. The footage shows Bubbles initially scanning a school of bigeye trevally. He quickly focuses on a single fish.1
The persistent pursuit of the smaller marine creature ends for Bubbles only when the trevally regurgitates its previously eaten food. Bubbles then swiftly grabs the vomited stomach contents while the fish swims away. The dolphin then returns to the school and selects the next target.
Ten Fish in Just 30 Minutes
In a roughly 30-minute recording, Bubbles repeated the hunting technique with up to ten more fish. Overall, researchers documented twenty encounters between the dolphin and the trevally schools from 2021 to 2025. In eleven of these, Bubbles consumed food that a pursued fish had regurgitated.2
Incidentally, the unusual food thief was always Bubbles. Notches in his dorsal fin and a V-shaped scar identified him in all the recordings. Other dolphins have not been observed using this hunting technique so far.
Why Does Bubbles Prefer to Eat Vomit?
Bigeye trevally are relatively large fish. Catching, breaking down, and eating them could be labor-intensive for a dolphin. The already swallowed stomach contents, on the other hand, might be easier to obtain and consume.
Researchers suspect that Bubbles’ method allows him to access smaller prey that the trevally have previously eaten. However, whether this strategy actually requires less energy than a conventional hunt remains unclear.
Does the Dolphin Use His Clicks as a Weapon?
Before Bubbles selects a fish, he moves his head from side to side and produces clicking sounds. Dolphins use such sounds for echolocation, allowing them to perceive differences in size, shape, and texture of fish. Bubbles might recognize which trevally is carrying a particularly large amount of prey in its stomach this way. However, there is no evidence for this yet.
During the chase, the dolphin also repeatedly produces clicks and deep tones. These could further stress the fish and cause it to regurgitate its food. Researchers cannot yet say whether the sounds actually trigger the vomiting. It is also conceivable that the trevally expel their stomach contents as a distraction to escape the dolphin.
Did Bubbles Develop the Technique Himself?
Whether Bubbles invented the hunting method himself or learned it from another animal is unknown. Since no other dolphin has been observed using it, it could be an individual specialization.
However, dolphins are known for very diverse and adaptable hunting methods. Some herd fish together, others use mud rings or even cooperate with fishermen. It is also conceivable that similar strategies have simply gone unnoticed because hunting scenes underwater are difficult to observe.