Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T11:13:53.659Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Consumption of Antarctic krill by Minke whales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2004

A.J. Armstrong  and
W.R. Siegfried
A.J. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, 7700 Rondebosch, South Africa
W.R. Siegfried
Affiliation:
Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, 7700 Rondebosch, South Africa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The consumption of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) by an “average-sized” (male 6994 kg; female 8249 kg), sexually mature Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) was estimated, from stomach capacity, ingestion rate and respiratory allometry methods. Estimates obtained from the stomach capacity and respiratory allometry methods differed by 17%–23%. An “average-sized” male Minke whale consumes 37.2 t of krill during a 90-day stay, and an “average-sized” female Minke whale consumes 56.2 t of krill during a 120-day stay, in Antarctic waters during the austral summer. It is estimated that the Minke whale population in the Antarctic (60°S and higher) consumes 35.5 × 106 t of krill annually.

Keywords

Ecosystem impactestimated consumptionkrillMinke whale
Type
Papers—Life Sciences and Oceanography
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 13 - 18
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)