Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-n7qbj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-10T14:46:23.286Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

New records of mummified crabeater seals on islands bordering Admiralty Sound, Weddell Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2019

Javier Negrete*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Cerrito 1248, (C1010AAZ) Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Av.60 y 122 s/n(1900). La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Leopoldo H. Soibelzon
Affiliation:
División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900, La Plata, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas (Conicet), Av. Rivadavia 1917 (C1033AAJ), CABA, Argentina
Esteban Soibelzon
Affiliation:
División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900, La Plata, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas (Conicet), Av. Rivadavia 1917 (C1033AAJ), CABA, Argentina
Jorge Lusky
Affiliation:
Departamento Técnico y Logístico Polar, Dirección Nacional del Antártico, Cerrito 1248, (C1010AAZ) Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

Ninety-six mummified crabeater seals discovered at Seymour Island (Isla Marambio) are reported. Each specimen was georeferenced, photographed and assigned to five different taphonomic states. Previous work stated that seals at Seymour Island get stranded inland around the breeding season. However, it is not clear if the species breeds in this area. The abundance of crabeater seals and the ice condition along Admiralty Sound (Estrecho Bouchard) were obtained by aerial surveys during spring (2015–17). It appears that the species uses the strait as a passage to breeding grounds. Under heavy ice conditions, the seals become stranded in the middle section of this strait and wander inland through a valley that represents the mouth of an ephemeral stream that ends at the pack ice level. This situation was observed in 2014 and 2015 when recently dead seals were found, evidencing that this natural trap is still active. Nonetheless, in 2016 and 2017, during an early breakup of Admiralty Sound, the seals that remained in the area were more numerous than in 2015 but they did not get stranded inland. This early breakup may encourage the seals to breed there in the presence of open water areas with ice floes.

Type
Biological Sciences
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barwick, R.E. & Balham, D. 1967. Mummified seal carcases in a deglaciated region of South Victoria Land, Antarctica. Tuatara, 15, 165180.Google Scholar
Bengtson, J.L., Laake, J.L., Boveng, P.L., Cameron, M.F., Hanson, M.B. & Stewart, B.S. 2011. Distribution, density, and abundance of pack-ice seals in the Amundsen and Ross Seas, Antarctica. Deep Sea Research II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 58, 12611276.Google Scholar
Bornemann, H. & Plötz, J. 1999. Satellite tracking of crabeater seals. Berichte zur Polarforschung, 301, 98102.Google Scholar
Dort, Jr W. 1975. Significance and antiquity of mummified seals in southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Rapports Procès Verbaux des Réunions, Counseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, 169, 5769.Google Scholar
Dort, W. Jr. 1981. The mummified seals of Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Antarctic Research Series, 30, 123154.Google Scholar
Flores, H., Haas, C., van Franeker, J.A. & Meesters, E. 2008. Density of pack-ice seals and penguins in the western Weddell Sea in relation to ice thickness and ocean depth. Deep Sea Research II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 55, 10681074.Google Scholar
Forcada, J., Trathan, P., Boveng, , Boyd, I., Burns, J., Costa, D., et al. 2012. Responses of Antarctic pack-ice seals to environmental change and increasing krill fishing. Biological Conservation, 149, 4060.Google Scholar
Gales, N.J., Fraser, W.R., Costa, D.P. & Southwell, C. 2004. Do crabeater seals forage cooperatively? Deep-Sea Research II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 51, 23052310.Google Scholar
Gordon, J.E. & Harkness, D.D. 1992. Magnitude and geographic variation of the radiocarbon content in Antarctic marine life: implications for reservoir corrections in radiocarbon dating. Quaternary Science Review, 11, 697708.Google Scholar
Gottfried, M.D. 2014. Cooperative foraging behaviour by crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) at Pleneau Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Science, 26, 263.Google Scholar
Gurarie, E., Bengtson, J.L., Bester, M.N., Blix, A.S., Cameron, M., Bornemann, H., et al. 2017. Distribution, density and abundance of Antarctic ice seals off Queen Maud Land and the eastern Weddell Sea. Polar Biology, 40, 11491165.Google Scholar
Laws, R.M. 1981. Biology of Antarctic seals. Science Progress, 67, 377397.Google Scholar
Laws, R.M., Baird, A. & Bryden, M.M. 2003. Breeding season and embryonic diapause in crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus). Reproduction, 126, 365370.Google Scholar
Montes, M., Nozal, F., Santillana, S., Marenssi, S. & Olivero, E. 2013. Mapa geológico de Isla Marambio (Seymour). Antártida, escala 1:20000. 1a edición. Serie cartográfica Geocientífica Antártica. Con texto complementario. Madrid-Instituto Geológico y Minero de España; Buenos Aires-Instituto Antártico Argentino.Google Scholar
Negrete, J., Soibelzon, E., Tonni, E.P., Carlini, A., Soibelzon, L.H., Poljak, S., et al. 2011. Antarctic radiocarbon reservoir. The case of the mummified crabeater seals Lobodon carcinophaga (Mammalia: Pinnipedia) in Bodman Cape, Isla Marambio (Antarctica). Radiocarbon, 53, 161166.Google Scholar
Negrete, J., Soibelzon, L.H., Soibelzon, E., Márquez, M.E., Loza, C.M., Acosta, W., et al. 2015. Aggregation of mummified adult crabeater seals (Pinnipedia: Phocidae) in the eastern Antarctic Peninsula: age and sex structure, taphonomy and cause of death. Antarctic Science, 27, 274280.Google Scholar
Nelson, A.E., Smellie, J.L., Williams, M. & Moreton, S. 2008. Age, geographical distribution and taphonomy of an unusual occurrence of mummified crabeater seals on James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Science, 20, 485493.Google Scholar
Nývlt, D., Fišáková, M.N., Barták, M., Stachoň, Z., Pavel, V., Mlčoch, B. & Láska, K. 2016. Death age, seasonality, taphonomy and colonization of seal carcasses from Ulu Peninsula, James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctic Science, 28, 316.Google Scholar
Péwé, T.L., Rivard, N.R. & Llano, G.A. 1959. Mummified seal carcasses in the McMurdo Sound region, Antarctica. Science, 130, 719.Google Scholar
Siniff, D.B., Cline, D.R. & Erickson, A.W. 1970. Population densities of seals in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, in 1968. In Holdgate, M.W., ed. Antarctic ecology, Vol. 1. London: Academic Press, 604 pp.Google Scholar
Siniff, D.B. & Reichle, R.A. 1976. Biota of Antarctic pack ice: RV Hero cruise, 75–6. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 11(2), 61.Google Scholar
Siniff, D.B, Stirling, I., Bengston, J.L. & Reichle, R.A. 1979. Social and reproductive behaviour of crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus) during the austral spring. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 57, 22432255.Google Scholar
Southwell, C., Kerry, K., Ensor, P., Woehler, E.J. & Rogers, T. 2003. The timing of pupping by pack-ice seals in East Antarctica. Polar Biology, 26, 648652.Google Scholar
Southwell, C., Bengtson, J.L., Bester, M.N., Schytte, B.A., Bornemann, H., Boveng, P., et al. 2012. A review of data on abundance, trends in abundance, habitat use and diet of ice-breeding seals in the Southern Ocean. CCAMLR Science, 19, 4974.Google Scholar
Stirling, I. & Kooyman, G.L. 1971. The crabeater seal (Lobodon Carcinophagus) in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, and the origin of mummified seals. Journal of Mammology, 52, 175180.Google Scholar