Identification of stomach contents from a Shepherd's beaked whale Tasmacetus shepherdi stranded on Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic

Shepherd's beaked whale Tasmacetus shepherdi is one of the most poorly known cetaceans, whose diet has created some speculation given that its dentition differs greatly from that of most other beaked whales that are primarily teuthophagous. The few stomachs examined previously have given seemin...

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Published inJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom Vol. 94; no. 6; pp. 1093 - 1097
Main Authors Best, P.B., Smale, M.J., Glass, J., Herian, K., Von Der Heyden, S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.09.2014
Subjects
Alcohol
Aquatic mammals
Beryx splendens
Cetacea
Continental slope
Fish
Histioteuthis atlantica
Males
Marine
Ommastrephes bartrami
Otoliths
Pholidoteuthis
Predation
Seamounts
Stomach
Taningia danae
Tasmacetus
Tasmacetus shepherdi
Trace elements
Argentina
PSW, South Atlantic, Tristan da Cunha
AS, South Atlantic
Beryx splendens
Shepherd's beaked whale
cephalopods
fish
South Atlantic
feeding behaviour
food
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Summary:Shepherd's beaked whale Tasmacetus shepherdi is one of the most poorly known cetaceans, whose diet has created some speculation given that its dentition differs greatly from that of most other beaked whales that are primarily teuthophagous. The few stomachs examined previously have given seemingly conflicting dietary information. In this paper the stomach contents of a freshly stranded adult female on Tristan da Cunha have been examined through identification of trace elements and genetic analysis of soft parts. At least 13 cephalopod and 8 fish species were identified from beaks and otoliths respectively, but only undigested fish remains were present in the stomach and identified genetically as Beryx splendens. Reconstituted masses totaled 8809 g for cephalopods and 17,554 g for fish, with four species (Histioteuthis atlantica, Taningia danae, Ommastrephes bartrami and Pholidoteuthis ‘A’) comprising 78.6% of the cephalopods and one species (B. splendens) comprising 87.4% of the fish eaten. It is concluded that Tasmacetus may alternately exploit fish and cephalopods, depending on the time of day and access to seamount or continental slope areas.
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ISSN:0025-3154
1469-7769
DOI:10.1017/S0025315412001658