PITCHER: PREY OF THE STELLER SEA LION 



Table 5.— Comparative frequency of principal prey (N3^4) of 250 

 Steller sea lions Eind 548 harbor seals collected in the Gulf of Alaska 

 between 1973 and 1978. 



Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus,Facific whiting, 

 Merluccius productus; walleye pollock; rockfishes; 

 and Pacific sand lance (Imler and Sarber 1947; 

 Spalding 1964; Fiscus and Baines 1966). Use of this 

 prey type may be important in minimizing forag- 

 ing effort and conserving energy, compared with 

 the energy expenditures of capturing more soli- 

 tary species (Smith and Gaskin 1974; Pitcher 

 1980). 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This study was supported by the Bureau of Land 

 Management through an interagency agreement 

 with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 

 ministration, under which a multiyear program 

 responding to needs of petroleum development of 

 the Alaskan continental shelf is managed by the 

 Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assess- 

 ment Program (OCSEAP) office. 



Thajiks are due to Clifford Fiscus, John Fitch, 

 Kathryn Frost, and Lloyd Lowry for identifying 

 prey remains. I am grateful to Roger Aulabaugh, 

 Michael Bronson, and Dennis McAllister for their 

 help in sorting stomach contents and tabulating 

 data. SuzAnne Miller provided advice on statisti- 

 cal techniques. Many employees of the Alaska De- 

 partment of Fish and Game assisted me in field 

 activities. Donald Calkins, Clifford Fiscus, Kath- 

 ryn Frost, Lloyd Lowry, and Donald McKnight 

 critically reviewed drafts of the manuscript. 



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