Diet and feeding ecology of the Royal Albatross Diomedea epomophora - Kingof the shelf break and inner slope

Diet samples, mainly regurgitations by Royal Albatross Diomedea epomophora nestlings, were obtained at Chatham Islands: (34), Taiaroa Head (151) and C ampbell island (79), New Zealand, between 1973 and 1997. Cephalopods and fi sh were the main items of food, with only small amounts of crustaceans and tunicates. Being completely digested faster, fish are likely to be underrep resented in the samples, but most identified were fisheries targets or by-c atch. Prevalent cephalopods eaten were Histioteuthidae, Onychoteuthidae, Cr anchiidae and, at Taiaroa Head, Octopodidae. Although Histioteuthis atlanti ca was generally the most commonly taken species, Moroteuthopsis ingens adu lts contributed most biomass and this indicates that most feeding was possi bly on post-spawning cephalopods. While partly similar to the diet of the W andering Albatross D. exulans species-group, the relative absence of oceani c species in the diet of Royal Albatross indicates that it feeds closer to land, or over shallower waters, than the former, and that it avoids Antarct ic waters. The preference of Royal Albatross: for M. ingens could explain t heir migration between two apparent centres of distribution of M. ingens: t he continental shelf break and inner slope of southern New Zealand and of s outhern Chile-Argentina. These feeding areas also keep Royal Albatross away for much of the time from most seas where tuna long-lining occurs, renderi ng them less vulnerable than Wandering Albatross to such by-catch mortality . Scavenging at fishing vessels may now provide an increased food supply, a nd partly account for the increase in some populations.