Dolphins along Australia’s east coast have been caught on camera using large sea shells to catch fish, giving scientists the first documented proof that this rare hunting trick exists outside Western Australia. The discovery, made in Hervey Bay, Queensland, also suggests mother dolphins may be teaching the skill to their young.
A team based at the University of the Sunshine Coast recorded two separate sightings in 2025 during regular boat surveys of the Great Sandy Marine Park, confirming that dolphins there also use shells to catch fish. The study appears in Marine Mammal Science.
Scientists describe the tactic, called “shelling,” as a hunting method in which a dolphin corners a fish inside a large, empty shell resting on the seafloor. The dolphin then carries the shell upward, tips it near the surface, and lets the trapped fish spill straight into its mouth. Alexis Levengood led the study and works as an animal behavior specialist at the university.
Researchers spotted the rare ‘shelling’ behavior
She said she knew instantly what she was seeing. From the boat, she watched a dolphin hoist a bulky object toward the surface and immediately identified it as shelling.
Until this discovery, shelling had only been recorded in Shark Bay, Western Australia, more than 3,700 miles away, and no footage existed from that earlier site.
Local tour operators later told the team they had photographed the same behavior in the same Queensland waters back in 2013 and 2019, showing the trick had likely gone unnoticed for years simply because so few scientists had studied dolphins in that stretch of water.
The second sighting offered an even bigger surprise. Scientists watched an adult female dolphin surface with a shell, drop it as a fish slipped free, and chase after the escaping prey.
How dolphins use shells to catch fish in the wild
Minutes later, her calf retrieved the same shell and mimicked her movements, lifting it toward the surface in nearly identical fashion, with what looked like a lizardfish poking out from inside.
Levengood said the footage may be the first evidence that dolphins pick up shelling by copying their mothers, rather than learning it from other dolphins in their social circle.
Animals using tools is not new to science. In the 1960s, primatologist Jane Goodall famously observed chimpanzees using sticks to pull termites from logs.
Since then, researchers have documented primates cracking nuts with stones, crows in New Caledonia shaping twigs into hooks, and octopuses carrying coconut shells for shelter.
What scientists still don’t know about dolphin shelling
Dolphins in Shark Bay have also been seen wearing sea sponges over their beaks to protect themselves while hunting on the sea floor.
Levengood said the new findings show dolphins on opposite coasts of Australia developed the same tool-use behavior independently. She added that many questions remain about why dolphins shell and how widespread the habit really is.
Scientists hope further study will reveal whether the behavior is more common than once believed, and what it can teach them about animal intelligence and learning.
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