.- 8 - 
and nematodes, a few cephalopod beaks, and teleost bones. A third, in 
addition to nematodes and cestodes, contained the remains of several 
t 
spiny puffers (Tetraodontidae), a goatfish (Mullidae), several octopuses 
(Octopus sp.) and several morays (Muraenidae). Regurgitated items in¬ 
cluded five octopuses, the largest with a tentacle spread of about 60 cm, 
eight wrasses (Labridae), a parrot fish (Scaridae) about 46 cm long, and 
1 
a moray about 1.5 m long. 
An adult was observed as it caught silvery fish about 28 cm long in 
shallow water off the beach. It submerged for periods of 95 to 110 seconds. 
The head was raised out of the water and tilted back while the animal chewed. 
and occasionally the food was flipped about in the mouth. Three fish 
were caught and eaten in a ten minute perioc 
DISCUSSION 
The total number of monk seals now tagged, including 129 tagged by . 
Kenyon and Rice (per, comm.), is 504, or one half to one third of the 
estimated total population (Kenyon and Rice, 1959; Rice, 1960). Only 6 
.of the 205 animals tagged at Kure are known to have lost tags, and only 
9 adult group animals were not subsequently recorded. These data suggest 
that tag loss is minimal. 
The historical data from the last century suggest that the monk 
seal was nearly extemninat.ed by about 1870 (see Kenyon and Rice, 1959 for 
summary). Very few animals were seen in the Leewards between 1882 and" 
1923, and indeed even into the 1950's. Since this latter period there 
have been 12 independent counts of the herd at Laysan, 9 at Lisianski, ' 
and 6 at Pearl and Hermes Reef. Information gathered by the Survey over 
