Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 592:257-265 (2018) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12482 Albatross-borne loggers show feeding on deep-sea squids: implications for the study of squid distributions Bungo Nishizawa1,*, Takanori Sugawara2, Lindsay C. Young3, Eric A. Vanderwerf3, Ken Yoda2, Yutaka Watanuki1 1Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, 3-1-1, Minato, Hakodate, Hokkaido 041-8611, Japan 2Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo, Chikusa, Nagoya, Japan 3Pacific Rim Conservation, 3038 Oahu Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA *Corresponding author: nishizawa@salmon.fish.hokudai.ac.jp ABSTRACT: How surface-feeding albatrosses feed on deep-sea squids has long been a mystery. We investigated foraging behavior during daylight hours of 20 Laysan albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis breeding in Hawaii using GPS- and camera-loggers. The birds traveled to the North Pacific Transition Zone up to 600 km north of their breeding site. The camera images showed that Laysan albatrosses fed on large (~1 m body length), intact floating dead squids (6 events) and floating fragmented squids (10 events) over deep oceanic water (>2000 m) while they flew in a straight path without sinuous searching. Feeding events on squids were not observed during trips when fishing vessels were photographed and seemed to be distributed randomly and sparsely. Thus, this study suggests that Laysan albatrosses found large, presumably post-spawning, squids opportunistically while they were traveling during daylight hours. Although we did not find cetaceans in our surface pictures, we could not rule out the possibility that birds fed on squids, especially fragmented specimens, in the regurgitates of cetaceans at depth. This study demonstrates the usefulness of combining animal-borne GPS- and camera-loggers on wide-ranging top predators for studying the distribution of little known deep-sea squids and their importance in the diet of marine top predators. KEY WORDS: Phoebastria immutabilis · GPS-logger · Camera-logger · Taningia danae · Onykia robusta · Hawaiian Islands · Area-restricted search Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Nishizawa B, Sugawara T, Young LC, Vanderwerf EA, Yoda K, Watanuki Y (2018) Albatross-borne loggers show feeding on deep-sea squids: implications for the study of squid distributions. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 592:257-265. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12482 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 592. Online publication date: March 29, 2018 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2018 Inter-Research.

Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.