Diet of Risso's dolphin (<i>Grampus griseus</i>) in the western Mediterranean Sea

Carmen Blanco; Mª Ángeles Raduán; Juan Antonio Raga

doi:10.3989/scimar.2006.70n3407

Authors

Carmen Blanco Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia
Mª Ángeles Raduán Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia
Juan Antonio Raga Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/scimar.2006.70n3407

Keywords:

Grampus griseus, cetacean, cephalopods, diet, slope, Mediterranean

Abstract

The diet of Risso’s dolphin in the Mediterranean is described based on 15 animals stranded between 40°25’N 00°32’W and 37°35’N 00°45’E from April 1987 to January 2003. The prey were mainly oceanic cephalopods. Pelagic octopods, especially A. argo, were the most abundant (mean = 41.28%; SD±34.32). Species belonging to the families Ommastrephidae, Histioteuthidae and Onychoteuthidae were also frequent components of its diet. The bathymetric distribution of cephalopods shows that Risso’s dolphin preferentially feeds on the middle slope (600 to 800 m depth) in the Mediterranean.

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