The Potomac Conservancy and the Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project are holding a public contest to name a pair of wild bottlenose dolphins that live in the Potomac River. If you remember Boaty McBoatface or, closer to home, the #Snowzilla debacle, you might think that this is an invitation to the Internet to do its worst.

Except, well, the subjects up for names are not a big snowstorm or a big boat, but two dolphins—dolphins!—who currently go by supremely uninspiring monikers “D1” and “D2.” The Dolphin Project has already named 304 other dolphin denizens of the Potomac, mostly after U.S. presidents, vice presidents, first ladies, and members of Congress.

In fact, a citizen scientist recently spotted Martha Washington with a new calf. But the first lady of the region’s dolphins probably isn’t alone these days. The population migrates to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay in May and June to birth and raise calves for the summer. (We should note: There’s no word on whether or not George is the father.)

But, the current roster of names to the contrary, don’t think that proposing politics-themed names will make the cut for D1 and D2. The organizers of the naming contest say they’ll prioritize “names that relate to the Potomac River, local outdoor places, the environment, or in tribute to environmental leaders.”

Why risk a public naming contest? It’s all in the name of public awareness of the dolphins in the first place.

Scientists have identified more than 1,000 dolphins in the Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay, and they think the population could be in the thousands. They’re mostly seen around the mouth of the Potomac, but have been spotted as far upstream as the Harry Nice Memorial Bridge in Dahlgren, Virginia.

But there’s a lot scientists still don’t know about the dolphins. The Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project only began researching the population in 2015. It’s possible that the dolphins are an indicator of overall marine health: with cleaner water and healthier native fish, D1 and D2 and their successors–whatever the Internet decides to name them–could swim as far upstream as Washington, D.C. someday (D.C.’s trash-collecting boats, Flotsam and Jetsam, whose names are also the result of a naming contest, are hard at work to help.) Researchers have also asked the public for help tracking the dolphins in the region’s waters—in 2017, they recorded more than 1,000 sightings.

Submissions for pairs of names are open until May 24, and the public will vote on a list of selections in June. We hear that some brilliant genius has already submitted Dolphin McDolphinface, so the bar is low.

Previously:
There Are Dolphins In The Potomac And We Know Almost Nothing About Them … Yet