THE DIET OF THE WEDDELL SEAL LEPTONYCHOTES WEDDELLI AT HARMONY POINT,SOUTH SHETLAND ISLANDS

A total of 41 faeces and 5 vomits of the Weddell seal Leptonychotes we ddelli was collected at Harmony Point, Nelson Island, South Shetland I slands, from 14 January to I February 1996. The diet indicated by the remains in the samples was diverse and comprised both pelagic and bent hic-demersal species. Fish were the most frequent (95.7%) and numerous prey (46.2%), but molluscs were the most important by mass (65.8%). O ctopods, mainly Pareledone charcoti, constituted the bulk of the diet (63.1% by mass), but the importance of the remaining molluscs was negl igible. Otoliths represented 510 fish of which 491 were identified as belonging to 5 species: Gymnoscopelus nicholsi, Electrona antarctica, Lepidonotothen nudifrons, Gobionotothen gibberifrons and Nototheniops nybelini. The myctophid Gymnoscopelus nicholsi was the most important fish prey, and the contribution of benthic-demersal species was low. H owever, the importance of that fish was over-estimated since 96% of th e specimens were obtained from the five vomits analysed. The biases as sociated with the faecal analysis technique are discussed.