Histioteuthis bonnellii (Cephalopoda: Histioteuthidae): A new prey item of the leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea (Reptilia: Dermochelidae)

Abstract

One lower and two upper beaks of the squid Histioteuthis bonnellii were collected from the digestive tract contents of a leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, drowned in a gill net in the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea (western Mediterranean). The beaks were derived from two individuals whose estimated sizes were, respectively, 17.5 cm mantle length and 1962 g weight, 19.8 cm mantle length and 2636 g weight. Histioteuthid squids are ammoniacal, slow moving animals, capable of hovering in the water column. They may therefore mimic the preferred prey of leatherback turtles, i.e. gelatinous planktonic organisms. This is the first record of H. bonnellii as a prey item of D. coriacea.

Keywords:

• Cephalopoda
• Dermochelys coriacea
• feeding
• Histioteuthis bonnellii
• Reptilia

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Prof. John Davenport for critically reading the manuscript and Prof. Graeme Hays for some suggestions.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark