Jellyfish Support High Energy Intake of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea): Video Evidence from Animal-Borne Cameras
The endangered leatherback turtle is a large, highly migratory marine predator that inexplicably relies upon a diet of low-energy gelatinous zooplankton. The location of these prey may be predictable at large oceanographic scales, given that leatherback turtles perform long distance migrations (1000...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3306388 2023-05-15T15:46:48+02:00 Jellyfish Support High Energy Intake of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea): Video Evidence from Animal-Borne Cameras Heaslip, Susan G. Iverson, Sara J. Bowen, W. Don James, Michael C. 2012-03-16 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306388 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22438906 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033259 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306388 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22438906 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033259 Heaslip et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2012 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033259 2013-09-04T04:20:06Z The endangered leatherback turtle is a large, highly migratory marine predator that inexplicably relies upon a diet of low-energy gelatinous zooplankton. The location of these prey may be predictable at large oceanographic scales, given that leatherback turtles perform long distance migrations (1000s of km) from nesting beaches to high latitude foraging grounds. However, little is known about the profitability of this migration and foraging strategy. We used GPS location data and video from animal-borne cameras to examine how prey characteristics (i.e., prey size, prey type, prey encounter rate) correlate with the daytime foraging behavior of leatherbacks (n = 19) in shelf waters off Cape Breton Island, NS, Canada, during August and September. Video was recorded continuously, averaged 1:53 h per turtle (range 0:08–3:38 h), and documented a total of 601 prey captures. Lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) was the dominant prey (83–100%), but moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) were also consumed. Turtles approached and attacked most jellyfish within the camera's field of view and appeared to consume prey completely. There was no significant relationship between encounter rate and dive duration (p = 0.74, linear mixed-effects models). Handling time increased with prey size regardless of prey species (p = 0.0001). Estimates of energy intake averaged 66,018 kJ•d−1 but were as high as 167,797 kJ•d−1 corresponding to turtles consuming an average of 330 kg wet mass•d−1 (up to 840 kg•d−1) or approximately 261 (up to 664) jellyfish•d-1. Assuming our turtles averaged 455 kg body mass, they consumed an average of 73% of their body mass•d−1 equating to an average energy intake of 3–7 times their daily metabolic requirements, depending on estimates used. This study provides evidence that feeding tactics used by leatherbacks in Atlantic Canadian waters are highly profitable and our results are consistent with estimates of mass gain prior to southward migration. Text Breton Island PubMed Central (PMC) Breton Island ENVELOPE(141.383,141.383,-66.800,-66.800) Canada PLoS ONE 7 3 e33259 |
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Open Polar |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
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ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Research Article |
spellingShingle |
Research Article Heaslip, Susan G. Iverson, Sara J. Bowen, W. Don James, Michael C. Jellyfish Support High Energy Intake of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea): Video Evidence from Animal-Borne Cameras |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
The endangered leatherback turtle is a large, highly migratory marine predator that inexplicably relies upon a diet of low-energy gelatinous zooplankton. The location of these prey may be predictable at large oceanographic scales, given that leatherback turtles perform long distance migrations (1000s of km) from nesting beaches to high latitude foraging grounds. However, little is known about the profitability of this migration and foraging strategy. We used GPS location data and video from animal-borne cameras to examine how prey characteristics (i.e., prey size, prey type, prey encounter rate) correlate with the daytime foraging behavior of leatherbacks (n = 19) in shelf waters off Cape Breton Island, NS, Canada, during August and September. Video was recorded continuously, averaged 1:53 h per turtle (range 0:08–3:38 h), and documented a total of 601 prey captures. Lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) was the dominant prey (83–100%), but moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) were also consumed. Turtles approached and attacked most jellyfish within the camera's field of view and appeared to consume prey completely. There was no significant relationship between encounter rate and dive duration (p = 0.74, linear mixed-effects models). Handling time increased with prey size regardless of prey species (p = 0.0001). Estimates of energy intake averaged 66,018 kJ•d−1 but were as high as 167,797 kJ•d−1 corresponding to turtles consuming an average of 330 kg wet mass•d−1 (up to 840 kg•d−1) or approximately 261 (up to 664) jellyfish•d-1. Assuming our turtles averaged 455 kg body mass, they consumed an average of 73% of their body mass•d−1 equating to an average energy intake of 3–7 times their daily metabolic requirements, depending on estimates used. This study provides evidence that feeding tactics used by leatherbacks in Atlantic Canadian waters are highly profitable and our results are consistent with estimates of mass gain prior to southward migration. |
format |
Text |
author |
Heaslip, Susan G. Iverson, Sara J. Bowen, W. Don James, Michael C. |
author_facet |
Heaslip, Susan G. Iverson, Sara J. Bowen, W. Don James, Michael C. |
author_sort |
Heaslip, Susan G. |
title |
Jellyfish Support High Energy Intake of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea): Video Evidence from Animal-Borne Cameras |
title_short |
Jellyfish Support High Energy Intake of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea): Video Evidence from Animal-Borne Cameras |
title_full |
Jellyfish Support High Energy Intake of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea): Video Evidence from Animal-Borne Cameras |
title_fullStr |
Jellyfish Support High Energy Intake of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea): Video Evidence from Animal-Borne Cameras |
title_full_unstemmed |
Jellyfish Support High Energy Intake of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea): Video Evidence from Animal-Borne Cameras |
title_sort |
jellyfish support high energy intake of leatherback sea turtles (dermochelys coriacea): video evidence from animal-borne cameras |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306388 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22438906 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033259 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(141.383,141.383,-66.800,-66.800) |
geographic |
Breton Island Canada |
geographic_facet |
Breton Island Canada |
genre |
Breton Island |
genre_facet |
Breton Island |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306388 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22438906 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033259 |
op_rights |
Heaslip et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033259 |
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PLoS ONE |
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7 |
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3 |
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e33259 |
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