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Calamari for dinner? Albatrosses help reveal cephalopod fauna and its trophic relationships in Kerguelen waters

In a paper on the cephalopod fauna found around the French Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean Yves Cherel (Centre d'Études biologiques de Chizé, France) and colleagues record two new prey taxa taken by Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans when rearing chicks on that island:

"Histioteuthis atlantica (Hoyle, 1885) and Taonius sp. B (Voss), whose buccal masses were found in food samples of wandering albatrosses."

Reference:

Cherel, Y., Gasco, N. & Duhamel, G. 2011.  Top predators and stable isotopes document the cephalopod fauna and its trophic relationships in Kerguelen waters.  In: Duhamel, G. & Welsford, D. (Eds).  The Kerguelen Plateau: marine ecosystem and fisheries.  Société Française d'Ichtyologie, Paris: 99-108.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 October 2011

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