Interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals Phoca vitulina at Mousa, Shetland (UK)
The main prey species in the summer (July–September) diets of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) on the Island of Mousa (Shetland, UK), 1994–1997, were whiting ( Merlangius merlangus ), herring ( Clupea harengus ), sandeel (Ammodytidae) and garfish ( Belone belone ). Norway pout ( Trisopterus esmarkii...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2001
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315401003812 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315401003812 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0025315401003812 2024-03-03T08:47:57+00:00 Interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals Phoca vitulina at Mousa, Shetland (UK) Brown, Edward G. Pierce, Graham J. Hislop, John R.G. Santos, M. Begoña 2001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315401003812 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315401003812 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom volume 81, issue 2, page 325-337 ISSN 0025-3154 1469-7769 Aquatic Science journal-article 2001 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025315401003812 2024-02-08T08:44:45Z The main prey species in the summer (July–September) diets of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) on the Island of Mousa (Shetland, UK), 1994–1997, were whiting ( Merlangius merlangus ), herring ( Clupea harengus ), sandeel (Ammodytidae) and garfish ( Belone belone ). Norway pout ( Trisopterus esmarkii ) was numerically important but comprised no more than 11% of prey weight in any year. There were marked between-year fluctuations in the relative importance of these prey, with whiting comprising 16–34% (by weight) of the diet, herring 12–28%, sandeels 7–18% and garfish 7–22%. Additional data on spring (April–June) diet were available for 1995–1997: sandeels were the most important prey (% weight) in all three years (51–60% of the diet), while herring (8–48%) and gadids (2–22%) varied in importance. The average size of fish eaten was larger than that reported in comparable studies from other areas. Harbour seals appear to have selected larger sandeels, whiting and Norway pout than the average size available in the area, as indicated by survey trawls, although between-year changes in the size of Norway pout in the diet did to some extent reflect availability. Interannual variation in the importance of Norway pout in the diet appeared to track trends in abundance, although the short time series precluded detection of a statistically significant correlation. Thus, some of our results are consistent with harbour seals feeding opportunistically while others point to selectivity, particularly for prey size. Estimated consumption of fish by the 500 harbour seals on Mousa during summer ranged from 152–195 tonnes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Phoca vitulina Cambridge University Press Norway Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 81 2 325 337 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Aquatic Science |
spellingShingle |
Aquatic Science Brown, Edward G. Pierce, Graham J. Hislop, John R.G. Santos, M. Begoña Interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals Phoca vitulina at Mousa, Shetland (UK) |
topic_facet |
Aquatic Science |
description |
The main prey species in the summer (July–September) diets of harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina ) on the Island of Mousa (Shetland, UK), 1994–1997, were whiting ( Merlangius merlangus ), herring ( Clupea harengus ), sandeel (Ammodytidae) and garfish ( Belone belone ). Norway pout ( Trisopterus esmarkii ) was numerically important but comprised no more than 11% of prey weight in any year. There were marked between-year fluctuations in the relative importance of these prey, with whiting comprising 16–34% (by weight) of the diet, herring 12–28%, sandeels 7–18% and garfish 7–22%. Additional data on spring (April–June) diet were available for 1995–1997: sandeels were the most important prey (% weight) in all three years (51–60% of the diet), while herring (8–48%) and gadids (2–22%) varied in importance. The average size of fish eaten was larger than that reported in comparable studies from other areas. Harbour seals appear to have selected larger sandeels, whiting and Norway pout than the average size available in the area, as indicated by survey trawls, although between-year changes in the size of Norway pout in the diet did to some extent reflect availability. Interannual variation in the importance of Norway pout in the diet appeared to track trends in abundance, although the short time series precluded detection of a statistically significant correlation. Thus, some of our results are consistent with harbour seals feeding opportunistically while others point to selectivity, particularly for prey size. Estimated consumption of fish by the 500 harbour seals on Mousa during summer ranged from 152–195 tonnes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brown, Edward G. Pierce, Graham J. Hislop, John R.G. Santos, M. Begoña |
author_facet |
Brown, Edward G. Pierce, Graham J. Hislop, John R.G. Santos, M. Begoña |
author_sort |
Brown, Edward G. |
title |
Interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals Phoca vitulina at Mousa, Shetland (UK) |
title_short |
Interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals Phoca vitulina at Mousa, Shetland (UK) |
title_full |
Interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals Phoca vitulina at Mousa, Shetland (UK) |
title_fullStr |
Interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals Phoca vitulina at Mousa, Shetland (UK) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals Phoca vitulina at Mousa, Shetland (UK) |
title_sort |
interannual variation in the summer diets of harbour seals phoca vitulina at mousa, shetland (uk) |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315401003812 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315401003812 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom volume 81, issue 2, page 325-337 ISSN 0025-3154 1469-7769 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025315401003812 |
container_title |
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom |
container_volume |
81 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
325 |
op_container_end_page |
337 |
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1792504267235393536 |