Ecology Summary - Delphinapterus leucas

Language:

Ecology of Delphinapterus leucas

Main Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Remarks	Found in shallow coastal waters, and occasionally moves into deep, offshore waters. In the summer, they aggregate in large numbers in shallow estuaries. They primarily feed on various species of fish, combined with a wide variety of mollusks and benthic invertebrates which are found on or near the bottom.

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 Delphinapterus leucas may be found.

Habitat

Substrate
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

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
From individual food items	4.25	0.83			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.