Cephalopod remains in the stomachs of eight Weddell seals

Stomach contents of eight Weddell seals killed on Deception lsland,South Shetland lslands, included unidentified fish, Euphausia superba, isopods,amphipods, pieces of blubber, bones, bits of algae, stones, parasitic worms and remains of cephalopods. The cephalopod remains included 349 lower beaks (mandibles), 383 upper beaks, eight 'crowns' of arms and nine buccal masses. The lower beaks, crowns and buccal masses were sorted into groups and identified as far as possible. Eight types of cephalopod of six families were identified. Three species each contributed almost a third of the total number of cephalopods in the diet; the squids Moroteuthis knipovitchi and ? Psychroteuthis glacialis contributed 31.3 and 28.7%, respectively, and an octopod, probably Pareledone, contributed 33.6%. Estimates from beak size show that Morotewhis knipovitchi contributed 48.5% and ? Pareledone 21.9% of the weight of flesh represented by beaks in the samples. While squids predominated in March and April, octopod dominated the cephalopod fraction in July. Octopods were also collected from the stomachs oft wo Weddell seals caught at Halley Bay