Selection of fish schools by flocking seabirds in Prince William Sound, Alaska

We examined locational and size characteristics of fish schools encountered along transects in Prince William Sound, Alaska, during July-August 1995. We made comparisons between schools that had seabird flocks associated with them and schools that had no flocks nearby. Feeding flocks chose fish scho ols that were close to shore and in shallow water, as well as those that we re smaller than the general population of fish schools. However, fish schoo ls found near shore were significantly smaller than offshore fish schools, suggesting that flocking birds chose feeding habitat rather than school siz e. Numbers of birds in feeding flocks were positively correlated with fish school chord length and negatively correlated with density and depth of the schools.