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Jellyfish and other gelata as food for four penguin species – insights from predator‐borne videos
Author(s) -
Thiebot JeanBaptiste,
Arnould John PY,
GómezLaich Agustina,
Ito Kentaro,
Kato Akiko,
Mattern Thomas,
Mitamura Hiromichi,
Noda Takuji,
Poupart Timothée,
Quintana Flavio,
Raclot Thierry,
RopertCoudert Yan,
Sala Juan E,
Seddon Philip J,
Sutton Grace J,
Yoda Ken,
Takahashi Akinori
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1002/fee.1529
Subject(s) - jellyfish , predation , apex predator , pelagic zone , trophic level , predator , ecology , biology , gelatinous zooplankton , trophic cascade , fishery
Jellyfish and other pelagic gelatinous organisms (“gelata”) are increasingly perceived as an important component of marine food webs but remain poorly understood. Their importance as prey in the oceans is extremely difficult to quantify due in part to methodological challenges in verifying predation on gelatinous structures. Miniaturized animal‐borne video data loggers now enable feeding events to be monitored from a predator's perspective. We gathered a substantial video dataset (over 350 hours of exploitable footage) from 106 individuals spanning four species of non‐gelatinous‐specialist predators (penguins), across regions of the southern oceans (areas south of 30°S). We documented nearly 200 cases of targeted attacks on carnivorous gelata by all four species, at all seven studied localities. Our findings emphasize that gelatinous organisms actually represent a widespread but currently under‐represented trophic link across the southern oceans, even for endothermic predators, which have high energetic demands. The use of modern technological tools, such as animal‐borne video data loggers, will help to correctly identify the ecological niche of gelata.