Determining the unknown in Southern Ocean squid : distribution and diet of Histeoteuthis eltaninae and Martialia hyadesi ...

• Main Author: Hughes, Amanda Rose
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Southern Ocean; Elephant Seals
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23230271.v1; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Determining_the_unknown_in_Southern_Ocean_squid_distribution_and_diet_of_Histeoteuthis_eltaninae_and_Martialia_hyadesi/23230271/1

In the Southern Ocean, cephalopods are infrequently captured by conventional sampling methods, but this is not a reflection of their abundance. This inadequacy has resulted in their being limited knowledge into cephalopods despite their importance as voracious predators and a key prey resource to apex predators. These predators have allowed for a new technique to be developed through using their stomach contents to obtain cephalopods resistant mouth parts (known as beaks). In the Southern Ocean, juvenile elephant seals have the greatest diving and foraging capacity, resulting in the greatest representation of the cephalopod community in their stomach contents. These beaks are morphologically uniqueto a species, with the dimensions related to the size the whole animal, allowing for species specific knowledge that can be related to size. Diet, potential prey and distribution can be determined through stable isotope analysis. Stable isotope analysis was conducted on two predominate species found in the stomach ...