If you're headed downey ocean today, you may catch officials and volunteers out for the 12th annual dolphin count. Lead by the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the group will spend a few hours watching the water and filing out data sheets.

Counters will be fanning out along the beaches of Ocean City and Assateague Island. Others will ride in a boat.

The count helps marine specialists to compile long-term information about dolphin populations, reproduction rates and ocean health. They will also be able to keep tabs on the abundance of prey and the overall health of the coastal ecosystem.

Officials say because of the counts they now know bottlenose dolphins use state waters to migrate, breed and feed. The information also led to dolphins being listed as "depleted" by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 1993, after about half the population, or at least 750 dolphins, died in 1987 and 1988.  The designation means the animals are in jeopardy of declining to a point where they may not recover -- and it's similar to the Endangered Species Act designations of threatened or endangered.

Other East Coast groups are undertaking similar counts to determine the health of the overall habitat.

Stay tuned for the final report. And in the meantime, the aquarium's blog asks you to take a guess at how many dolphins they count. The best guess wins tickets to the aquarium. Text “dolphin” and your guess to 30644 by 1 p.m. today.

Bottlenose dolphin swims off the coast of Ocean City/courtesy of the National Aquarium