Prey species found within Hooker Sea Lion scats

This dataset is a collection of presence-absence and %occurrence data of prey species found within scats of Hooker Sea Lions. The data are presented in an excel spreadsheet.

Samples were collected from 54 scats.

From the abstract of the referenced paper:

Scats were collected from itinerant male Hooker's sea lions, Phocarctos hookeri, at Macquarie Island and the un-eroded faunal remains used to assess the diet. Un-eroded sagittal otoliths were used to identify teleost fish and to calculate fish size. Prey items included 14 taxa of teleost fish, cephalopods, gastropods, crustaceans and fur seals. Fish constituted the primary component of the diet. Prey species previously uncommon in the diet of seals and penguins around Macquarie Island were commonly eaten by Hooker's sea lions. The sub-Antarctic horse fish (Zanclorhynchus spinifer) and the Patagonian tooth fish (Dissostichus eleginoides) were the two most abundant species and occurred in 62.5% and 41.7% of all scats respectively. There were no age specific and individual differences in the diet of sea lions. Seasonal variances in diet were absent. Small plastic fragments (diameter ~ 1mm) were only found in association with Electrona subaspera otoliths. Some overlap was seen between the diet of itinerant male Hooker's sea lions and the commercial fisheries that currently occur around Macquarie Island.

This work was completed as part of ASAC project 2265 (ASAC_2265).