The diet of the blue-eyed shag Phalacrocorax atriceps at Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands, as reflected by the analysis of stomach contents collected throughout the breeding season

The analysis of twenty nine stomach contents collected in a colony close to Pirie Peninsula, South Orkney Islands, from 2 January to 18 February 1995, showed that fish were by far the main prey of the blue-eyed shag Phalacrocorax atriceps, followed by octopods, decapods and gammarids. Notothenia coriiceps constituted the bulk of the diet; however, its importance decreased by the end of the study when Nototheniops nudifrons was the most important prey. The composition of the diet varied throughout the breeding season according to changes in the chicks' energetic demands. The results are compared to those obtained previously in the area and the possibility that the stomach contents primarily represents the chicks diet is discussed.