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result from leopard seal attacks upon them when young. 

 Hofman et al. (1977) postulated an age-related shift in 

 prey in leopard seals; young seals were shown to rely more 

 heavily upon krill than mature seals which utilized a 

 variety of vertebrate prey. Thus, leopard seals clearly 

 use a wide variety of prey species. 



3) Ross Seals 



Ross seal food habits are unclear. Although scattered 

 individuals in dense pack ice are thought to feed primarily 

 on cephalopods, fish and krill have been found in their 

 stomachs (Barrett-Hamilton, 1901; Wilson, 1907; Brown, 1913; 

 Solyanik, 1964) . King (1965b) suggested that Ross seals may 

 feed on larger cephalopods than other seals which feed on 

 cephalopods . 



4) Weddell Seals 



According to Dearborn (1965) , fish were present in 

 97% of the Weddell seal stomachs analyzed at McMurdo Sound. 

 Weddell seals sometimes catch fish of considerable size, 

 such as Dissostichus mawsonii (Calhaem and Christoffel, 

 1969) . Lindsey (1937) and Bertram (1940) suggested a dietary 

 transition between newly weaned pups and adults. The primary 

 food of newly weaned pups being crustaceans (isopods, 

 amphipods, and Euphausiids such as Euphausia superba . 

 Although Dearborn (1965) found these invertebrate species 

 in adult stomachs, these small crustaceans may be easier 

 prey for pups (Bertram, 19 40) . 



2 . Other Antarctic Seals 



a. Southern Fur Seals 



1) Distribution 



The taxonomic status of southern fur seals was reviewed 

 by Repenning et al. (1971). There are three species of 

 Ar otocephalus which may occur south of the Antarctic 

 Convergence. Of these, A. gazella is the most common — 

 present near subantarctic islands and pelagically just south 

 of the Convergence. The other two species, A. tropicalis 

 and A. forsteri occasionally penetrate south~into Antarctic 

 waters. Bonner (1968) presents distributional maps of the 

 three species. 



The Antarctic fur seals (A. gazella) frequent the islands 

 and surrounding oceans south of 60° s. off the Antarctic 

 Peninsula. During the pupping/mating season, major breeding 



