Food of Weddell Seals at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Abstract

Stomach contents of 44 Weddell seals taken at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, were examined. Fishes occurred in 97% of the stomachs that contained any food. Mysids, decapod crustaceans, amphipods and cephalopods were the invertebrate prey taken most frequently. All specimens examined were heavily infested with nematodes and cestodes, a condition related to the predominantly fish diet of this seal.