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

CASAUX R.; CARLINI A.; CORBALAN A.; BERTOLIN M.; DI PRINZIO C.

POLAR BIOLOGY

SPRINGER

Año: 2009 vol. 32 p. 833 - 838

0722-4060

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-layout-grid-align:none; punctuation-wrap:simple; text-autospace:none; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The diet of the Weddell Seal Leptonychotes weddellii at the South Orkney Islands was investigated by the analysis of 44 and 26 faecal samples collected at beaches of Laurie Island from May 1999 to January 2000 and from October to December 2001 respectively. The diet was diverse and both pelagic and benthic-demersal organisms were represented in the samples. Fish were the most frequent prey of the samples in both 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, a fact that was not observed previously. Among fish, Gobionotothen gibberifrons was largely the species that contributed mostly to the diet, whereas pelagic fish could not be identified in the samples. The results are compared with information from other study areas and discussed in relation to the consumption of krill.