The diet of non-breeding male Antarctic fur seals in the South Shetland Islands

The diet of non-breeding male Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella was investigated at four localities in the South Shetland Islands (Deception Island, Potter Peninsula, Duthoit Point and Harmony Point), through analyses of 1254 scats collected from 1995 to 2004. The Antarctic krill, fish and penguins were the main prey items at the four study locations. Antarctic krill was the main prey by mass at Potter Peninsula and Deception Island, while fish and penguins dominated at Duthoit Point (except in 2000) and Harmony Point, respectively. Myctophid fish, mainly Gymnoscopelus nicholsi and Electrona antarctica, contributed most by mass to the diet of the fur seals at all the localities. Pleuragramma antarcticum, formerly important fish prey at the South Shetland Islands, and Gobionotothen gibberifrons and Notothenia rossii, both targeted species in the fisheries of the past, were absent or scarcely represented in the diet of the fur seals. The results encourage using the diet of Antarctic fur seals to monitor the distribution/abundance of Myctophids and P. antarcticum.