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The feeding habits of the Southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina, at Isla 25 de Mayo/King George Island, South Shetland Islands

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Abstract

The Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) is a major consumer from the Southern Ocean. This species is highly sexually dimorphic and frequently exhibits resource partitioning according to sex and/or age classes. This study analysed the feeding habits of the M. leonina population from Isla 25 de mayo (King George Island) in the spring/summer seasons of 1995/1996–2002/2003. A total of 232 individuals from different sex-age groups were stomach lavaged. The analysis of stomach samples showed that cephalopods were the main prey followed by fish, their frequency of occurrence being 98.1 and 17.9 % respectively. Cephalopods were dominated by the Antarctic glacial squid, Psychroteuthis glacialis, which occurred in 83 % of samples, constituting 57.2 % in numbers and 61.3 % in mass. Octopods were of lesser relevance, occurring in 18 % of samples, but became more important in the diet of male individuals. Juvenile seals fed on a lower variety of cephalopod prey than older ones. This would coincide with the diving pattern characteristic of the different sex-age categories of seals. The predominance of P. glacialis might be associated with the more southerly location of the foraging areas of this population compared to others. Fish were largely represented by the myctophid Gymnoscopelus nicholsi, which occurred in 81.3 % of samples containing otoliths and constituted 76.4 % in numbers and 66.4 % in mass. However, while myctophids may be the dominant fish prey of elephant seals in areas close to the South Shetlands, they would be probably replaced by P. antarcticum as seals migrate towards higher latitudes.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Dr. Marthan Bester and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript. We are also grateful to Mr. Campbell McMillan for improvement of the English language in text. This work was funded by the Dirección Nacional del Antártico and the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (Grants: Picto No. 11559-36054). Our procedures conform with the Code of Ethics of Animal Experimentation in Antarctica. The permit for this work was granted by the Dirección Nacional del Antártico (Environmental Office), Argentina. This work is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alejandro Carlini (“Alex”).

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  1. División Mastozoología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Avenida Angel Gallardo 470 (C1405DJR), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    G. A. Daneri & A. Harrington

  2. Departamento de Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248 (C1010AAZ), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    A. R. Carlini, E. R. Marschoff, J. Negrete, J. A. Mennucci & M. E. I. Márquez

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  1. G. A. Daneri
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  2. A. R. Carlini
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  6. J. A. Mennucci
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Correspondence to G. A. Daneri.

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A. R. Carlini: Deceased on 20 December 2010.

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Daneri, G.A., Carlini, A.R., Marschoff, E.R. et al. The feeding habits of the Southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina, at Isla 25 de Mayo/King George Island, South Shetland Islands. Polar Biol 38, 665–676 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-014-1629-0

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