DIETS OF MARINE MAMMALS STRANDED ON THE NORTHWESTERN SPANISH ATLANTICCOAST WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CEPHALOPODA

Stomach contents from 59 marine mammals, 28 Delphinus delphis, 14 Turs iops truncatus; three Grampus griseus, four Stenella coeruleoalba, thr ee Globicephala melas, one Ziphius cavirostris, four Phocoena phocoena , one Physeter macrocephalus and one Balaenoptera acutorostrata strand ed on the northwestern Spanish Atlantic coast from December 1990 to Ma rch 1993 were examined. A total of 9076 fish otoliths and 654 cephalop od upper and lower beaks were collected. The otoliths were identified only to family level, representing by number 65% Gadidae, 24% Gobiidae , 6% Atherinidae, 2% Ammodytidae, 1.5% Clupeidae and the rest Carangid ae, Labridae, Argentinidae, Macroramphosidae and Bothidae. The cephalo pod beaks belonged to 12 species of nine families. The cephalopod fami lies contributing food of these marine mammals, in order of contributi on by number of specimens are, the Loliginidae (56.9%), the Octopodida e (25.3%), the Ommastrephidae (11.9%), the Sepiolidae (2.4%), the Hist ioteuthidae (0.9%), the Chiroteuthidae (0.9%), the Cranchiidae (0.8%), the Mastigoteuthidae (0.3%) and the Gonatidae (0.15%). The great part of the cephalopods observed in the stomach contents were small in siz e, except for some octopods in Grampus griseus and Globicephala melas, and Mastigoteuthis sp. in Physeter macrocephalus. The results indicat ed that D. delphis, T. truncatus and Phocoena phocoena are primarily f ish-eating, while Grampus griseus, Globicephala melas and Physeter mac rocephalus had only cephalopod remains in their stomachs.