Ecology Summary - Phoca vitulina

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Ecology of Phoca vitulina

Main Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Remarks	Found in coastal waters of the continental shelf and slope (Ref. 1394); and whelp in groups on beaches, sandbars, and rocky reefs (Ref. 1522). Also for resting, moulting and lactation during low tides. Typically perform U-shaped dives. Leave the coast on foraging trips to deeper offshore waters where prey is abundant (Ref. 96347). Feeds on a wide variety of fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans of surface, mid-water and benthic habitats (Ref. 1394).

Main Ref.

Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993

Remarks

Found in coastal waters of the continental shelf and slope (Ref. 1394); and whelp in groups on beaches, sandbars, and rocky reefs (Ref. 1522). Also for resting, moulting and lactation during low tides. Typically perform U-shaped dives. Leave the coast on foraging trips to deeper offshore waters where prey is abundant (Ref. 96347). Feeds on a wide variety of fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans of surface, mid-water and benthic habitats (Ref. 1394).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Phoca vitulina may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Hard Bottom: rocky;
Substrate Ref.	Rice, D.W., 1998
Special habitats	Coral Reefs;
Special habitats Ref.	Rice, D.W., 1998

Associations

Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	4.50	0.80			Troph of juv./adults.
From individual food items	4.48	0.97			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Brown, E.G. and G.J. Pierce, 1998

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