Mote Marine says red tide was not to blame; bottlenose dolphin stranded on Halloween had infections and shark-bite wound.

SARASOTA — A 400-pound female bottlenose dolphin that battled infection and a substantial shark-bite wound was released in the Gulf on Monday after 89 days of around-the-clock treatment.

The dolphin nicknamed Salem because it stranded on Halloween was toted by fourteen Mote Marine Laboratory staff members about 100 yards down a dock to a waiting Yellowfin boat. They released her 2 to 3 miles offshore from Egmont Key, an area where no red tide has been detected.

Red tide is no longer present offshore from Manatee or Sarasota County, according to the latest Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission water samples.

"This is what we work for," said Gretchen Lovewell, the strandings investigations program manager at Mote. "Yes, we put on our science hats and we learn from those sad situations, but to see this goes full circle. I think we’ll all be beaming for a few days."

Salem was found by a boater north of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge fishing Pier in St. Petersburg and the FWC transported the dolphin to Jane's Refuge: The Hospital for Dolphins and Whales at Mote. They immediately began treating the dolphin for anemia and low body weight attributed to blood loss from the shark bite that covered about 50 percent of her tail stock.

In addition, the dolphin had a severe infection, stomach inflammation and developed pneumonia.

"These animals are very stoic," said Whitney Greene, a veterinarian at Mote. "Figuring out what’s wrong with them can be challenging as well as administering an appropriate treatment protocol. Salem came in and she was septic, which means she had a severe bacterial infection."

Apathy is a trait dolphin's use to veil injury or sickness in the wild to avoid becoming prey.

Salem, who was also dehydrated and underweight at 319 pounds, was treated with antibiotics and overcame the infection in late December. She was found to have many scars and well-worn teeth.

Diagnostic tests showed no sign of red tide poisoning blamed on the deaths of 127 other dolphins since July 1, during when a massive red tide bloom smothered sea life on the west Florida coast. Necropsies performed on many of those dolphins were positive for the red tide brevetoxin leading the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare an "unusual mortality event" in July.

This was the largest dolphin die-off since a 2005-2006 red tide episode that killed 190 dolphins.

Mote caregivers reported that Salem began swimming the night she was brought to the hospital and was responsive. She ate about 30 pounds of fish per day and passed a critical hearing test on Dec. 20.

Lovewell said Mote partnered with the Chicago Zoological Society/Sarasota Dolphin Research Program to pay for the cost of Salem's care. A satellite tag will allow scientists to study her behavior.

"I don’t know if we can even capture the emotion of what we feel when this happens," Lovewell said. "Something like this is good for all of our hearts and souls."

More than 70 cetaceans have been treated at Jane's refuge since the 1990s. Mote last treated a pygmy and melon-headed whale in the summertime and had multiple disentanglement rescues.

Salem is the only dolphin treated and released in the last year at Mote.