Dead or alive, night or day: how do albatrosses catch squid?

Croxall, J.P.; Prince, P.A.. 1994 Dead or alive, night or day: how do albatrosses catch squid? Antarctic Science, 6 (2). 155-162. 10.1017/S0954102094000246

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Abstract/Summary

For many albatross species squid are important prey. Whether albatrosses depend on scavenging (e.g. of vomit from cetaceans, post-spawning die-offs or fishery waste) or on live-capture of squid (e.g. via diel vertical migrations in association with aggregations of squid prey) is controversial. This review of the nature of interactions between squid and the four species of albatross breeding at South Georgia uses data on the foraging range, methods and timing of feeding of the albatrosses in relation to the size, distribution, buoyancy characteristics (floaters or sinkers), bioluminescence and prey of the squid and access to fishery waste. We conclude that most evidence for scavenging needs critical re-evaluation; nevertheless, whereas wandering albatrosses and possibly light-mantled sooty albatrosses probably depend significantly on scavenged squid, black-browed and especially grey-headed albatrosses are unlikely to do so.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1017/S0954102094000246
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Pre 2000 programme
ISSN:	0954-1020
Additional Keywords:	South Georgia, albatrosses, squid, scavenging, live-capture
Date made live:	18 Jan 2017 14:45 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/515961

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