TY - JOUR AU - Siegstad, Helle AU - Neve, Pia Barner AU - Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter AU - Härkönen, Tero PY - 1998/06/12 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Diet of the ringed seal (Phoca hispida) in Greenland JF - NAMMCO Scientific Publications JA - NAMMCOSP VL - 1 IS - 0 SE - Articles DO - 10.7557/3.2991 UR - https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/NAMMCOSP/article/view/2991 SP - 229-241 AB - <p>Analysis of 454 stomachs of ringed seals (<em>Phoca hispida</em>) collected from the Inuit hunt in six municipalities in West Greenland and 30 alimentary tracts collected by scientists in East Greenland, showed seasonal and regional differences in the diet. In Northwest and East Greenland polar cod (<em>Boreogadus saida</em>) and Arctic cod (<em>Arctogadus glacialis</em>) were the most dominant prey items. In contrast, seals in central West Greenland mainly preyed upon amphipods (<em>Parathemisto</em> spp.), capelin (<em>Mallotus villosus</em>), redfish (<em>Sebastes</em> sp.) and squid (<em>Gonatus</em> sp.), while capelin was the most important prey item in Southwest Greenland. The material from Uummannaq demonstrates seasonal variations, as euphausiids were common in spring, and snailfish (<em>Liparis</em> spp.) dominated from October through January, where after snailfish disappeared with the formation of fast ice. No age related differences in the diet were found in stomach samples from Avanersuaq, but in Upemavik crustaceans were more abundant in stomach samples from younger immature seals. Greenland halibut (<em>Reinhardtius hippoglossoides</em>) was only present in samples from seals older than 4 years. In Upemavik Arctic cod was the dominant prey item for seals caught in May at the ice<br />edge, whereas polar cod dominated the samples from seals caught in open water.</p> ER -