Stomach contents of harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena (L.), from the Bay of Fundy
For harbour porpoises caught in the W Bay of Fundy during June-September, Atlantic herring Clupea harengus was the most important prey species, contributing 80% of the total caloric intake, with some spatial and temporal variation. Silver hake Merluccius bilinearis and Atlantic cod Gadus morhua were also imporant, but together comprised only 17% of the total caloric intake. No differences were found in relative prey importance between adult porpoises of different reproductive conditions, but lactating females ingested more fish and had a significantly higher total caloric intake than nonlactating females or mature males. The diet of porpoises collected from the same area in 1969-1972 consisted of a higher proportion of pelagic prey and a lower proportion of demersal species. This may be attributed to differences in capture method, as the earlier sample of porpoises was collected at the surface, while the present animals were captured at depths of 45-100 m. -from Authors
Duke Scholars
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- Ecology
- 0608 Zoology
- 0602 Ecology
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Published In
DOI
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Related Subject Headings
- Ecology
- 0608 Zoology
- 0602 Ecology