The diet of the Weddell Seal Leptonychotes weddellii at Laurie Island,

CASAUX, R.; CARLINI, A.; CORBALÁN, A.; BERTOLIN, M.; DI PRINZIO, C.Y.

POLAR BIOLOGY

Año: 2009 p. 833 - 838

0722-4060

The diet of the Weddell Seal Leptonychotes weddellii at the South Orkney Islands wasinvestigated by the analysis of 44 and 26 faecal samples collected at beaches of LaurieIsland from May 1999 to January 2000 and from October to December 2001respectively. The diet was diverse and both pelagic and benthic-demersal organismswere represented in the samples. Fish were the most frequent prey of the samples inboth seasons, and fish and krill were the most numerous prey items. Octopods  predominated by mass in 1999 whereas krill constituted the bulk of the diet in 2001, afact that was not observed previously. Among fish, Gobionotothen gibberifrons waslargely the species that contributed mostly to the diet, whereas pelagic fish could not beidentified in the samples. The results are compared with information from other studyareas and discussed in relation to the consumption of krill and the potential recovery of  G. gibberifrons populations around the South Orkney Islands.