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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2004 61(2):287-292; doi:10.1016/j.icesjms.2004.01.002
© 2004 by ICES/CIEM International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer
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The gastric properties of free-ranging harp (Pagophilus groenlandicus (Erxleben, 1777)) and hooded (Cystophora cristata (Erxleben, 1777)) seals

Jørgen S. Christiansena,1,*, Asbjørn Gildbergb, Kjell T. Nilssenc, Charlotta Lindblomc and Tore Haugc

a University of Tromsø, Norwegian College of Fishery Science, Department of Aquatic BioSciences N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
b Norwegian Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Fiskeriforskning) N-9291 Tromsø, Norway
c Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø Branch N-9291 Tromsø, Norway

*Correspondence to J. S. Christiansen: tel: +47 77 64 60 00; fax: +47 77 64 60 20. e-mail: joergenc{at}nfh.uit.no.

The study of trophic relationships in seals is based primarily on prey remains recovered from the digestive tract or scats. Basic data on the gastric properties of seals are scarce and are considered to be important to interpret data from dietary studies of these animals. Hence, we examined the key properties of the gastric chyme post mortem (i.e. temperature, acidity, and the concentration of the proteolytic enzyme pepsin) in free-ranging harp (Pagophilus groenlandicus, n=40) and hooded (Cystophora cristata, n=41) seals. Seals displayed huge inter-individual variations in their gastric properties with ranges in temperature: 23.9–37.9°C, acidity: pH 1.16–7.34, and pepsin concentration: 11–1059 µg ml–1 chyme. The stomach weight and the mean values of gastric parameters revealed, however, significant species-specific differences. The stomach weight relative to body weight of hooded seal exceeded that of harp seal (t=13.77, d.f.=75, p<0.001). Furthermore, the gastric temperature and pepsin concentration were lower for harp (32.8°C and 75 µg ml–1) compared to that for hooded (35.3°C and 344 µg ml–1) seal. The reason for this disparity may be linked to the feeding mode and diet composition displayed by these seal species.

Keywords: Arctic seals, diet composition, gastric temperature and acidity, pepsin

Received 28 February 2003; accepted 6 January 2004.

1 Present address: Åbo Akademi University, Environmental and Marine Biology, Akademigatan 1, FIN-20500 Turku/Åbo, Finland.


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