The Diet of the White-Breasted Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus Along the Atlantic Coast of West Africa

Ardea

Jan Veen¹  Thor Veen²  Wim C. Mullié³ 

[1] 1 Veda Consultancy, Wieselseweg 110, 7345 CC Wenum-Wiesel, The Netherlands;3 Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada;2 B.P. 45590, Dakar, Senegal

关键词: West African Coast;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：动物科学

来源: Nederlandse Ornithologische Unie/Netherlands Ornithological Union

【 摘 要 】

TheWhite-breastedCormorantPhalacrocoraxcarbolucidusoccursinCentral,West,EastandSouthAfrica.TheWestAfricanpopulationbreedsontheCapeVerdeIslandsandalongtheAtlanticcoastfromMauritaniatoGuinea.Thespeciesforagesinmarine,brackishandfreshwatersandisthoughttobe(almost)completelypiscivorous.However,dataondietarepoorlyavailableandcompletelylackingfortheWestAfricanpopulation.Wecollectedregurgitatedpelletsatthreesites,inMauritania(IslandofZira,Bancd'Arguin)andSenegal(IlotauxOiseaux,asmallisletintheestuaryoftheSenegalRiverandIledelaMadeleinenearDakar).Onthebasisofotoliths,34fishspeciesbelongingto21familieswereidentified.Therewasgreatvariationinthedietofthecormorantsatthedifferentsites,withHaemulidaeandBatrachoididaebeingdominantonIledelaMadeleine,AriidaeandCynoglossidaeonIlotauxOiseauxandSparidae,MugilidaeandBatrachoididaeontheIslandofZira.Mostfishconsumedwerecoastalspecies,manyofwhichmayalsoenterbrackishorfreshwaters.Thecormorantsmainlyatebenthicandbentho-pelagicfishspeciesvaryinginsizebetween10and20cm.TherewasgreatvariationinthenumberofotolithsperpelletatthedifferentsiteswitharemarkablysmallnumberintheZirasample.Weinvestigatedwhetherasmallnumberofotolithsperpelletcanbeexplainedbythepreyfishbeinglargerorbytheotolithsbeingmoreeroded.Thelattermightbeanindicationthatpartoftheotolithshadbeentotallydissolvedandthusdisappearedfromthesamples.NeitherfishsizenorextentofwearcouldexplainthesmallnumberofotolithsintheZirasample.AcomparisonbetweenartisanalfisheriescatchesandthedietofthecormorantsshowedhardlyanyoverlapfortheSenegalesesites.However,substantialoverlapwasfoundattheBancd'ArguininMauritania.ThesedifferencescanbeexplainedbythehighproportionofpelagicspeciescaughtintheSenegalesesites.

【 授权许可】

Unknown