(Table 1) Age, sex, length, girth and blubber thickness and content of ringed seals (Pusa hispida) in Kongsfjorden in 2000

This study of vertical fatty acid profiles, based on analysis of 58 fatty acids sampled at 3-mm intervals throughout the blubber column of a model marine mammal, the ringed seal (Pusa hispida), revealed three chemically distinct layers. The average depths of the outer and inner layers were quite con...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Strandberg, Ursula, Käkelä, Anne, Lydersen, Christian, Kovacs, Kit Maureen, Grahl-Nielsen, Otto, Hyvärinen, Heikki, Käkelä, Reijo
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA 2008
Subjects:
Age
relative
number of years
Biological sample
BIOS
Condition index
DATE/TIME
Date/time end
Girth
standard
Identification
International Polar Year (2007-2008)
IPY
Kongsfjorden_2000
Kongsfjorden
Spitsbergen
Arctic
Length
total
Mass
Percentage
Sex
Thickness
International Polar Year
Kongsfjord*
Pusa hispida
ringed seal
Online Access:https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.837888
https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.837888
Description
Summary:This study of vertical fatty acid profiles, based on analysis of 58 fatty acids sampled at 3-mm intervals throughout the blubber column of a model marine mammal, the ringed seal (Pusa hispida), revealed three chemically distinct layers. The average depths of the outer and inner layers were quite consistent (~1.5 and ~1 cm, respectively). Consequently, the middle layer varied greatly in thickness, from being virtually absent in the thinnest animals to 2.5 cm thick in the fattest. The relative consistencies of the thickness and composition of the layers as well as the nature of the fatty acids making up each layer support the generally assumed function of the various layers: (1) the outer layer is primarily structural and thermoregulatory, (2) the inner layer is metabolically active with a fatty acid composition that is strongly affected by recent/ongoing lipid mobilization/deposition, and (3) the middle layer is a storage site that contracts and expands with food availability/consumption. The remarkable dynamics of the middle layer along with the discrete pattern of stratification found in the vertical fatty acid profiles have important implications for methodological sampling design for studies of foraging ecology and toxicology based on analyses of blubber of marine mammals.

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