No deep diving: evidence of predation on epipelagic fish for a stem beaked whale from the Late Miocene of Peru

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• Main Authors: Alberto Collareta, Benjamin Ramassamy, Giovanni Bianucci, Olivier Lambert, Walter Landini, Claudio Di Celma, Mario Urbina, Klaas Post
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 2015
• Subjects: Research Articles; Feeding; Fossil; Odontoceti; Pacific sardine; Sardinops; Ziphiidae; Agricultural and Biological Sciences (all); Biochemistry; Genetics and Molecular Biology (all); 2300; Immunology and Microbiology (all); Medicine (all); General Biochemistry; Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Immunology and Microbiology; General Agricultural and Biological Sciences; General Environmental Science; General Medicine; envir; geo; Pacific; toothed whales
• Online Access: https://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royprsb/282/1815/20151530.full.pdf; https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4614755/; http://hdl.handle.net/11568/760472; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2015.1530; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2015.1530; https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1530; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2015.1530; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4614755; http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/26354940; https://core.ac.uk/display/80263384; https://pubblicazioni.unicam.it/handle/11581/386787; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giovanni_Bianucci/publication/281638000_No_deep_diving_evidence_of_predation_on_epipelagic_fish_for_a_stem_beaked_whale_from_the_Late_Miocene_of_Peru/links/5631ea4708ae13bc6c3589a0.pdf?origin=publication_list; https://siis.unmsm.edu.pe/en/publications/no-deep-diving-evidence-of-predation-on-epipelagic-fish-for-a-ste; https://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1815/20151530; https://academic.microsoft.com/#/detail/2279738019; http://hdl.handle.net/11581/386787

Although modern beaked whales (Ziphiidae) are known to be highly specialized toothed whales that predominantly feed at great depths upon benthic and benthopelagic prey, only limited palaeontological data document this major ecological shift. We report on a ziphiid–fish assemblage from the Late Miocene of Peru that we interpret as the first direct evidence of a predator–prey relationship between a ziphiid and epipelagic fish. Preserved in a dolomite concretion, a skeleton of the stem ziphiid Messapicetus gregarius was discovered together with numerous skeletons of a clupeiform fish closely related to the epipelagic extant Pacific sardine ( Sardinops sagax ). Based on the position of fish individuals along the head and chest regions of the ziphiid, the lack of digestion marks on fish remains and the homogeneous size of individuals, we propose that this assemblage results from the death of the whale (possibly via toxin poisoning) shortly after the capture of prey from a single school. Together with morphological data and the frequent discovery of fossil crown ziphiids in deep-sea deposits, this exceptional record supports the hypothesis that only more derived ziphiids were regular deep divers and that the extinction of epipelagic forms may coincide with the radiation of true dolphins.