Notes on diet of sperm whales (Cetacea: Physeteroidea), stranded in Ceará State, Northeastern Brazil.

Abstract

Between 1996 and 1999 four stomach contents of two sperm whale species were collected, three of Physeter macrocephalus and one of Kogia breviceps. A total of 2,779 squid beaks was obtained from the stomachs of the three P. macrocephalus specimens. Those mollusks were identified as belonging to at least 15 families of squids (Alloposidae, Ancistrocheiridae, Architeuthidae, Chiroteuthidae, Cranchiidae, Enoploteuthidae, Gonatidae, Histioteuthidae, Mastigoteuthidae, Octopoteuthidae, Ommastrephidae, Onycoteuthidae, Pholidoteuthidae, Thysanoteuthidae e Vampytoteuthidae). Histiotheuthida was the most representative family in frequency of occurrence and numerical abundance. The occurrence of fishes, cephalopods and crustaceans in the stomach of K. breviceps was observed. Among the three kinds of prey reported, only cephalopods could be identified. The mollusks belonged to three distinct families of squid: Alloposidae, Cranchiidae e Enoploteuthidae. The results obtained in this study suggest that both sperm whale species feed on oceanic deep-water squids, what agrees with previous findings which recorded pelagic distribution of those cetacean species associated with deep diving for feeding purposes.