FISH PREY OF FUR SEALS ARCTOCEPHALUS SPP. AT SUB-ANTARCTIC MARION-ISLAND

The analysis of seats collected between 1989 and 1995 from the two fur seal species resident on subantarctic Marion Island, Arctocephalus gn ;ella and A. tropicalis, showed that they Fed predominantly on fish of the family Myctophidae (lanternfishes). Seat composition (prey specie s, abundance) was very similar for the two species. The seven species of myctophids that formed numerically 90 and 86% of the seat compositi on for A. gazella and A. tropicalis, respectively, all showed seasonal fluctuations in their contribution to seal diets. Electrona carlsberg i, E. subaspera, Metelectrona ventralis and Gymnoscopelus fraseri incr eased in winter in both species of fur seals, whereas Gymnoscopelus pi abilis, Protomyctophum choriodon and P. tenisoni showed the opposite t rend. Seal diets overlapped substantially with those of the king pengu ins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) resident on Marion Island, but no eviden ce for competitive exclusion could be found between these two major wa rmblooded consumers of marine resources at the Prince Edward Islands.