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Prey caloric value and predator energy needs: foraging predictions for wild spinner dolphins

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Abstract

Spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) feed on individual small (2–10 cm long) prey that undergo diel vertical migrations, presumably making them inaccessible to dolphins during the day. To examine how time, prey behavior, prey distribution, and energy needs constrain dolphin foraging, a calorimeter was used to measure the caloric content of prey items. These data were combined with information on prey distribution in the field and the energetic needs of dolphins to construct basic bioenergetic models predicting the total prey consumption and mean feeding rates of wild dolphins as well as potential prey preferences. The mean caloric density of mesopelagic animals from Hawaii was high (2,837 cal/g wet weight for shrimps, squids, and myctophid fishes). Their total caloric content, however, was low because of their small size. Energy value of prey and energetic needs of spinner dolphins were used to examine the effect of time and energy constraints on dolphin foraging. The results predict that spinner dolphins need to consume an estimated minimum of 1.25 large prey items per minute to meet their maintenance energy needs. If the additional energy costs of foraging are considered, the estimated necessary foraging rate is predicted to increase only slightly when large prey are consumed. If smaller prey are consumed, the total energy demand may be twice the basic maintenance value. Prey density and size are predicted to be important in determining if dolphins can forage successfully, meeting their energetic needs. The prey size predictions compare well with results from previous gut content studies and from stomach contents of a recently stranded spinner dolphin that had enough prey in its stomach to meet its estimated basic maintenance energy needs for a day. Finally, the results suggest that spinner dolphins are time and therefore efficiency limited rather than being limited by the total amount of available prey. This may explain the diel migration exhibited by spinner dolphins that allows them to follow the movements of their prey and presumably maximizes their foraging time.

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Acknowledgements

Marlee Breese, Paul Nachtigall, and Robert Braun of the Hawaiian Islands Stranding Response Group provided information on the stranded animal and extracted and saved its stomach under Dr. Braun’s Letter of Authorization from the National Marine Fisheries Service. Iris Fischer, Michiel Schotten, Marc Lammers, Whitlow Au, and Ariel Rivera-Vicente assisted in the dissection of the stomach. Timothy Tricas generously permitted me to utilize his laboratory and Ariel Rivera-Vicente made sure I had everything I needed. Gayla Ivey and Ken Longenecker assisted with the classification of fish otoliths. Whitlow Au, Paul Nachtigall, and George Losey provided helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Support for this work was provided by a Leonida Family Scholarship, the ARCS Foundation, and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology’s Marine Mammal Research Program. This work was also funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Project R/FM-7, which is sponsored by the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, SOEST, under Institutional Grant No. NA16RG2254 from NOAA Office of Sea Grant, Department of Commerce. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its subagencies. UNIHI-SEAGRANT-JC-03–01 This is HIMB contribution 1172.

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  1. Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, P.O. Box 1106, Kailua, HI 96734, USA

    K. J. Benoit-Bird

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  1. K. J. Benoit-Bird
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Correspondence to K. J. Benoit-Bird.

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Communicated by P.W. Sammarco, Chauvin

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Benoit-Bird, K.J. Prey caloric value and predator energy needs: foraging predictions for wild spinner dolphins. Marine Biology 145, 435–444 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1339-1

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