g, Desportes and Mouritsen 1993) The main goals

g., Desportes and Mouritsen 1993). The main goals Ivacaftor ic50 of the present study are therefore: (1) to describe the feeding habits of pilot whales in the northeast Atlantic based on the analysis of the stomach contents obtained from animals stranded in three different geographical locations

(Portugal, Scotland, and northwest Spain) and (2) to analyze the dietary variability in relation to area, year, season, length, and sex of the whales. In our study area, three stranding monitoring programs are responsible for the examination of marine mammal carcasses and the collection of samples. Strandings are attended in all cases by experienced personnel, from the Sociedade Portuguesa de Vida Selvagem (SPVS) in northern Portugal, from the Coordinadora para o Estudio dos Mamíferos Mariños (CEMMA) in Galicia (northwest Spain), and from the Scottish Agriculture

College Veterinary Science Division (SAC) in Scotland. In all cases, when the condition of the animal permitted it, detailed necropsies were performed. Otherwise, basic measurements/information (i.e., length, sex, decomposition state) and samples were collected (i.e., teeth, blubber, and, when possible, stomach contents). Since not all animals were assessed for maturity status, we summarized the likely distribution of maturity stages based on body length, following Bloch et al. (1993). Monitoring of strandings along the Galician coast started in 1990. A mean of 183 animals stranded per year between 1990 and 2010. Of 232 long-finned pilot whales recorded over this period, detailed necropsies were carried out on 56 whales selleck inhibitor and stomach contents were obtained from 32 of check details them. In Scotland, the strandings monitoring network started in 1992 and registered a mean of 152 cetacean strandings per year, with a total of 149 pilot whales strandings up until June 2011. Of these, only the animals in a fresh state were sent for detailed necropsies

(n = 24) and of the 24, stomach contents were recovered from 10 animals. A detailed monitoring program in the center and north of Portugal (with active search and detailed necropsies on stranded animals carried out whenever possible) began in 2000, registering ca. 160 strandings per year. A total of 17 pilot whales was recorded stranded in this area up to 2011, with stomach contents being recovered from seven out of the eight animals which were fully necropsied. One of these seven animals with nonempty stomachs had only milk in its stomach and further analysis therefore refers to six whales from Portugal. Thus, from 1990 to June 2011, a total of 48 nonempty stomachs were collected and analyzed (Fig. 1, Table 1). All nonempty stomachs were either taken to the laboratory whole or dissected on the beach. Stomachs contents were preserved frozen or in 70% ethanol prior to further analysis. Prey remains consisted almost exclusively of cephalopod mandibles (beaks), which were preserved in 70% ethanol, as were crustacean and other mollusc remains.

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