From Australian Oceans Data Network
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Diet and Foraging Area of Antarctic Fur Seals at Heard Island

Created 24/06/2025

Updated 24/06/2025

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Antarctic Fur Seals from Heard Island fed mainly on fish, but the prey species changed both seasonally and inter-annually. The majority of prey were pelagic myctophids characteristic of deep oceanic water, and were generally taken in autumn and winter. The only other fish taken in significant numbers was Champsocephalus gunnari which was mostly taken from late winter through early autumn when it was co-dominant in the diet with the Krefftichthys anderssoni. Males and females foraged in different localities and in different parts of the water column. Males foraged mainly to the south of Heard Island in winter usually diving deep by day, feeding on scattering layers. In summer males also fed on the shelf, presumably to the north and east of Heard Island on K. anderssoni at shallow depths primarily at night. Although diet studies provided little evidence of feeding on crustaceans, diving data indicate that some males may travel to Antarctic waters in winter to feed on krill. The fields in this dataset are: Months Species Scats Time foraging Number of Dives Time Submerged (minutes) Mean Dive Duration (minutes) Maximum Depth (metres)

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Diet and Foraging Area of Antarctic Fur Seals at Heard Island
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/cf70f5ef-d22c-4405-aa98-9e50d754ce73
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
metadata@aad.gov.au
Reference Period 01/02/1992 - 31/03/1993
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        73.23761,
        -53.20439
      ],
      [
        73.84735,
        -53.20439
      ],
      [
        73.84735,
        -52.96022
      ],
      [
        73.23761,
        -52.96022
      ],
      [
        73.23761,
        -53.20439
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "Diet and Foraging Area of Antarctic Fur Seals at Heard Island". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/diet-and-foraging-area-of-antarctic-fur-seals-at-heard-island