Benthic Prey in a Bowhead Whale from the Northern Bering Sea
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic2183Keywords:
Animal food, Benthos, Biological sampling, Bowhead whales, Internal organs, Necropsy, Predation, Bering Sea, St. Lawrence Island waters, AlaskaAbstract
Stomach contents were examined from a bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus, killed at Gambell, Alaska, on 1 May 1982. It contained an estimated 20-40 litres of recently ingested prey, principally gammarid amphipods (91.7% of the volume of a 157-ml subsample) and cumaceans (7%). All identified prey were primarily epibenthic forms. The stomach of this whale was significant in several respects: (1) it contained the largest amount of food recorded in any whale taken and examined in spring; (2) it provided the first direct evidence of bowheads feeding in the Bering Sea; and (3) the contents indicated that benthic prey are sometimes intentionally fed upon.
Key words: Balaena mysticetus, benthic prey, Bering Sea, bowhead whale, feeding, gammarid amphipods
