The Diet of Gentoo Penguins Pygoscelis papua at Macquarie Island: Winter and Early Breeding Season

Abstract

Hindell, M.A. (1989). The diet of Gentoo Penguins Pygoscehpapua at Macquarie Island: Winter and early breeding season. Emu 89,71-78. The diet of Gentoo Penguins during the non-breeding winter months and the early breeding season was studied at Macquarie Island in 1985. The buds primarily ate oceanic, myctophid fish, which constituted 92% and 59% of the total diet by numbers and weight respectively. The most common of these species were juvenile Krejjkhthys anderssoni and Ekctronu carhbergi. Inshore notothenid fish, principally Paranotothenia magellanica, made up 3% of the diet by number and 20% by weight. Some cephalopods and crustaceans were also eaten. Composition of the diet varied throughout the year and also between two breeding sites on the island, suggesting that Gentoo Penguins are feeding on species that are temporally and spatially patchy in distribution.