Fur Seals Caught Preying on Sharks Off South Africa – The seals only consume the viscera

The seal’s picky consumption of only the viscera, the most energy-dense part of the shark, is also noteworthy. Although fishers have noted for years that seals sometimes eat the viscera of large fish trapped in their nets, this type of predation has rarely been documented properly in free-swimming prey that fall victim to marine mammals. The fact that the seal discarded the rest of its catch shows that it had the option to be picky and is probably not at a loss for food. Read the rest here 17:13

2 Responses to Fur Seals Caught Preying on Sharks Off South Africa – The seals only consume the viscera

  1. jmknbsc . says:

    One issue that is not mentioned based upon this selective dining, is that if only soft easily digested parts of the fish or sharks (as in this case) are consumed, it would make it relatively impossible to estimate “how much” these mammals are actually eating. Their daily consumption may be much higher than supposedly estimated, since there wouldn’t be any “hard” evidence to analyze. Whereas this dining on shark entrails has not been reported or documented to any degree to support it as a normal occurrence, that can’t be said of this selective gutting practice of salmon & other fish species.

    Jim Kendall
    NBSC

    • StripedBassHole says:

      Ask the Gill-netters and Hookers what they are seeing up in the Northeast. If you can find any that still can “FISH”…

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