A comparative study of the diet of auks killed during an oil incident in the Skagerrak in January 1981

• Published in: Journal of Zoology
• Main Author: Blake, B. F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1983
• Subjects: Alca torda; Alle alle; Uria aalge; uria
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1983.tb04257.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1469-7998.1983.tb04257.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1983.tb04257.x; https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1983.tb04257.x

Stomach contents were examined from guillemots Uria aalge (Pont.), Razorbills Alca torda Linnaeus and Little auks Alle alle (Linnaeus) killed by oil in the Skagerrak in January 1981. The range of prey species was small; the commonest fish found in the stomachs were Gobiusculus flavescens (Fabricius), Crystallogobius linearis (Düben), Sprattus sprattus (L.), Trisopterus minutus (L.) and Ammodytes sp. The relative importance of these fish depended on bird species and locality. Guillemots contained gadoids more frequently and sandeels less frequently than razorbills, and the composition of guillemot samples from Oslo Fjord differed from that of samples from Sweden. Invertebrate remains were uncommon in all bird species; the commonest items recorded were polychaete jaws. The frequency of occurrence of items in the diet of guillemots from Oslo Fjord was apparently influenced by the extent of oiling suffered by the birds.