INVESTIGADORES
CASAUX Ricardo Jorge
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
THE DIET OF THE ANTARCTIC FUR SEAL Arctocephalus gazella AT HARMONY POINT, NELSON ISLAND, SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS
Autor/es:
CASAUX R.; BARONI A.; CARLINI A.
Reunión:
Workshop; The CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring and Management Working Group; 1997
Resumen:
The
diet of juvenile and non-breeding male Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella was
investigated at Harmony Point, Nelson Island, South Shetland Islands, by the
analysis of 18 and 33 scats collected during the 1995/96 and 1996/97 summer
seasons respectively. Overall, fish were the most frequent prey (74,5%) and
predominated by mass (54,4%), whereas krill did by number (94.2%). This pattern
coincides well with the observed in 1996/97, but in 1995/96 krill was the most
important prey also by mass (50.2%). The importance of the remaining taxa
represented in the samples (octopods, hyperiids and bivalves) was negligible.
Among fish, Myctophiids represented 85.2% of the fish mass, being
Gymnoscopelus nicholsi and Electrona antarctica the main prey.
These two species also predominated in 1996/97, whereas Cryodraco antarcticus and
Gobionotothen
gibberifrons did in 1995/96. The importance of the Myctophiids as prey
of the Antarctic fur seal is discussed.