Over-winter movements and diving behavior of female Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the southwestern Ross Sea, Antarctica

Abstract

The movements and diving behavior of 18 adult female Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) were determined by satellite telemetry during the over-winter period in 1990 and 1991. Nine seals provided diving and movement data for 8 – 9 months. Seals that normally bred in the eastern part of McMurdo Sound spent most of the winter in the middle and northern parts of McMurdo Sound before the annual shore-fast ice had formed in those areas, or in the pack ice 0–50 km north of the sound and Ross Island. This is a greater use of pack ice, as opposed to shore-fast ice, in winter than was previously believed. Some long-distance movements (one over 1500 km in total) to the middle and northwestern parts of the Ross Sea also occurred. Although highly variable within and between individuals, dives indicative of foraging were primarily to mid-water regions (100 – 350 m) in both years, and were similar to those that have been observed in spring and summer, when Pleuragramma antarcticum is the primary prey of Weddell seals in McMurdo Sound.