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For more than 23 years, Mote Volunteer Ruth DeLynn, of Longboat Key, has been dedicated to creating and cataloguing a unique and important collection of dolphin and whale bones. Today, the collection housed at Mote Marine Laboratory holds the complete skeletons of more than 600 individual animals of 20 different species and is one of the largest of its kind in Florida . The collection provides an important resource for researchers studying the lives and deaths of dolphins and whales.

On Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, Mote will officially dedicate the collection and the renovated room housing it as the “Ruth DeLynn Cetacean Osteological Collection” during a 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. reception and ribbon cutting in Room 1203 of the Ann and Alfred Goldstein Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center , Second Floor, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota.

“The detailed observations and cataloguing that have gone into this collection represent thousands of hours of hard work and dedication on Ruth’s part, and we look forward to recognizing and celebrating her contributions to Mote Marine Laboratory and its mission of scientific research,” said Mote President Dr. Kumar Mahadevan. “The dedication of this collection in Ruth’s name is just a wonderful example of how important volunteers are to Mote and the many and varied contributions they make here.”

The Ruth DeLynn Cetacean Osteological Collection includes many animals that were known by researchers in the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population. By combining what was known of an animal during its life with the information gathered about its condition and bones upon death, researchers have the ability to provide an extremely detailed life history of individual animals and Sarasota Bay ’s dolphin population.

Key to the collection’s taxonomic value is the detailed documentation that accompanies each specimen. The collection allows scientists to determine subtle differences between populations and abnormalities and pathologies among individuals.

The collection primarily includes animals that were recovered after stranding and brought to Mote by its Stranding Investigations Program. Upon arrival, dead animals are examined, all external features are documented and then a necropsy, or animal autopsy, is done. “We weigh, examine and sample every organ,” DeLynn says. “Everything is recorded. Everything is measured. It’s a very detailed process that takes hours before you even get to the bones.”

Cleaned bones hold much information about the animals. “Cavities in the teeth, imperfections in the enamel, every fracture, every abnormality all these things get recorded,” DeLynn says. “The more bones you look at, the more you pick up. It’s pure research. This is a research library, really. It’s a reference source.”

DeLynn and others have been able to study bone fractures in some animals and found others to be arthritic, and many scientific papers have been written by scientists, college interns and researchers at other institutions who have studied Mote’s animal skeletons. “This really gives us a clue to animal behavior because the fractures often are inflicted by other dolphins,” DeLynn says.

Studying the bones, including fracture patterns and structure, helps scientists understand how an animal was stranded and how it died, says Dr. Randall Wells, Sarasota Dolphin Research Program manager. “Studying skeletons helps elucidate the animal’s lifestyle. We are especially interested in what kills the resident dolphins of Sarasota Bay — both human-induced and natural causes.”

Media are invited to attend the dedication of the “Ruth DeLynn Cetacean Osteological Collection” during a 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. reception and ribbon cutting in Room 1203, second floor of the Ann and Alfred Goldstein Marine Mammal Research and Rehabilitation Center, Second Floor, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota.