| Summary: | Progress Code: completed Statement: Dates provided in temporal coverage are approximate only. See the referenced papers for further information. This record has been updated by staff at the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (rather than the listed investigator), and therefore it's accuracy and quality cannot be guaranteed. Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 465 See the link below for public details on this project. From the abstracts of the referenced papers: ############# The diet composition of King penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus at Heard Island (53deg 05S; 73 deg 30E) was determined from stomach contents of 98 adults captured as they returned to the island throughout 1992. During the two growth seasons, the diet was dominated by the myctophid fish Krefftichthys anderssoni (94 % by number, 48 % by mass). The paralepidid fish Magnisudis prionosa contributed less than 1 % by numbers but 17 % by mass. Mackerel icefish Champsocephalus gunnari accounted for 17 % by mass of chick diet in late winter, when chicks were malnourished and prone to starvation, although its annual contribution to the penguins diet was only 3 %. Squid was consumed only between April and August; Martialia hyadesi was the commonest squid taken, comprising 40 to 48 % of the winter diet. The remainder of the diet consisted of the squid Moroteuthis ingens and fish other than K. anderssoni. The energy content of the diet mix fed to the chicks varied seasonally being highest during the growth seasons (7.83 plus or minus 0.25 kJ.g-1) and lowest in winter (6.58 plus or minus 0.19 kJ.g-1). From energetic experiments we estimated that an adult penguin consumed 300 kg of food each of which its chick received 55 kg during the 1992 season. The chicks received large meals at the beginning of winter (1.2 plus or minus 0.3 kg) and during the middle of the second growth season (1.2 plus or minus 0.3 kg), and their smallest meals in late winter (0.4 plus or minus 0.1 kg). The gross energy required to rear a King penguin chick was estimated to be ...
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